Path of SLVR
by Greenshadow357
Summary: (Formerly Named SLVR Huntsmen) Silvanus. Liard. Verden. Rowan. The four boys are members of team SLVR(Silver), a new first year team at Beacon. Watch this group of young Huntsmen in Training as they become embroiled in the misadventures of a familiar first year team while attending Remnant's premier combat academy. RWBY Belongs to Rooster Teeth
1. Prologue

_Welcome to my new story. Enjoy._

* * *

 _Prologue:_

Ozpin, headmaster of the prestigious combat school Beacon Academy, stepped outside of Vale's police precinct, taking a long draught from his ever present coffee mug while leaning slightly on his walking stick. He was still mulling over the events of the evening. Namely the robbery attempt thwarted by a 15 year old girl with a Scythe, who also happened to be the apprentice of the infamous, 'Qrow'. The aged headmaster decided to get some air while waiting for Glynda to finish the arrangements for the girl, whom he'd just allowed to enroll into his academy early.

"Well. It's been awhile since I've seen you around in Downtown Vale." A man spoke nearby. Ozpin cocked his head slightly, seeing a man in his late 30s walking towards him, clad in a brown fleece jacket and black slacks, his brown hair tied back in a ponytail.

"Indeed. How are things these day, Robert?" Ozpin replied seamlessly.

"Can't complain, I suppose. Slow, which depending on how you look at it can be a good or bad thing in my line of work." The man, Robert, explained.

"Quite. So, what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?" The white haired man queried.

"Actually, I was hoping for a favor."

"Oh?"

"You know my son, Silvanus?"

"That I do."

"I was hoping you could pull some strings and accept him into Beacon this year."

"I see. Any reason is particular you're asking this?"

"I feel that it would be in his interests to have something to provide a distraction for him. With things being as slow as they are, he's becoming rather, aloof. Enrolling in your school is just what he needs."

"I don't know. As it is, I just made an exception in enrolling another young student in the academy, despite Glynda's wishes. I don't know how she'd react to two." Ozpin explained.

"Come on, Oz. You owe me one. I promise that he's more than ready." Robert pleaded.

"Ah, Ozpin. Oh, and Mr. Dresden, nice to see you." Glynda spoke, walking outside.

"Good to see you again, Glynda." Robert announced. Ozpin explained the situation the Glynda, causing a mild frown to form on her face. After several moments, Glynda sighed.

"I suppose I'm fine with his request. But YOU are arranging the paperwork." Glynda consented. Ozpin sighed and took another sip of his slowly cooling coffee.

"I'll have the paperwork ready shortly. Do keep in mind that this makes us even, Robert."

"Right. I'll even get you some of that special blend you love so much, Ozpin. I really appreciate what you're doing for him. And for me."

"Also, since we haven't had a decent examination of his skills as well as his academics, I'd recommend putting him on a temporary probation. He would have to make a good show during initiation as well as maintaining a certain grade average throughout the first semester. If he doesn't hold up, he would have to wait until the following year to apply like everyone else." Glynda proposed.

"That sounds fair to me. I'm more than sure that he's ready. I'd stake my life on it." Robert declared.

"He'd better be prepared. The airships leave tomorrow around 1. I'll be around in a bit with the paperwork." Ozpin revealed.

"One last thing, if I may ask. Who is this other student, exactly?"

"Ruby Rose. Apprentice of a familiar face. A dusty old crow."

"Qrow's apprentice? I see why you're here then." Robert admitted.

"I'll see you shortly with the paperwork Robert." Ozpin announced as his and Glynda's chauffeur pulled up near them.

"Thanks Oz. You won't regret this. I'll have the goods to you within the week." Robert spoke before the car made its way down the road. Ozpin could help but let a smirk cross onto his face.

"So. Two students below the age of enrollment, huh? Are we making the right decision."

"As you are aware, Glynda, I've made quite a number of mistakes in my time. However, I don't believe accepting these two into Beacon is among them."

"For their sakes, I hope you're right."

* * *

 _Dresden Residence, West Residential District, Vale:_

Robert had just gotten home, quickly stripping off his coat and placing it on the coat hangar near the door.

"Oh, you're home already?" His wife, Lucille, asked. Lucille was a woman in her late 30s, with long silver hair and green eyes, wearing a black dress and white sweater, and was holding an infant in her arms. The baby wasn't quite a year old, and had short gray hair and a pair of fox ears on top of her head, indicating that she was a Faunus.

"Yeah. As luck would have it, I managed to catch Oz outside the precinct. Apparently, he'd just gotten done accepting another outstanding student. A fifteen year old girl."

"Who was it?"

"Apparently, Qrow's apprentice."

"Qrow's apprentice?!" Lucille replied, shocked.

"Correct. Apparently she'd intervened in that Dust shop robbery that occurred a couple hours ago."

"I see. So…"

"Hey, Silva! Come downstairs, I have an announcement."

"Honey, volume." Lucille scolded, referring to the baby in her arms.

"Sorry." Robert replied, turning towards the staircase as he heard the footsteps get louder. Moments later, a boy of sixteen years of age descended the staircase. He had slightly shaggy silver hair, the back done up in a short ponytail, and was wearing a silver shirt and black and silver sweatpants.

"Hey dad. So, what's this announcement?" Silva replied, sitting down on one of the plush chairs in the room, his bright purple eyes focused on his father. Before he could reply, a knock was heard at the door.

"Silva, get the door if you would?" Robert asked. His son nodded and made his way towards the door. He opened it and froze.

"Hello. It's good to see you, Silvanus." Silva came face to face with the one and only Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, leaning slightly on his walking stick and carrying a small folder.

"Dad? Is this some kind of joke?" Silva asked, still slightly in shock.

"I assure you that this isn't a ploy of any kind. Your father sought me out earlier tonight and made a request. So Silvanus, or do you prefer Silva?"

"Silva, sir." He replied, slightly nervous.

"Silva. Would you like to come to my school?" Ozpin asked after walking inside.

"This is what you went out for earlier, wasn't it?" Silva questioned. Robert nodded.

"First of all, I'm a little annoyed that he decided to drop this bombshell just now." Silva started, throwing a look at his father. "But, to answer your question, Professor. I would be beyond grateful to go. Thank you. Thank you, so much." He continued, gratefully shaking Ozpin's hand.

"Here's the paperwork. As your father's already been made aware, you're a special case. Since neither myself or Professor Goodwitch have a clear idea of your abilities or academic standing, you enrollment has a probationary period. If your grades are favorable for the first semester, your place in the school is guaranteed. Do you understand?" Ozpin explained.

"Yes, Professor." Silva answered. They spent a few minutes going through the paper work before Ozpin bid his farewell.

"So. What do you think?" Robert asked with a smirk. His son punched him lightly on the shoulder before giving him a hug.

"I appreciate it. But don't ever wait last minute to drop a bomb like that again. I'm gonna be up all night now." Silva said offhand as he made his way upstairs, though his parents didn't mistake the excitement in his eyes.

* * *

 _Omake: Deleted Scene: The Other Reason Ruby and Silva were accepted into Beacon. Partially inspired by webcomic made by Lucky1717123 of Deviantart_

Ozpin was sitting in his office, sipping from his coffee mug and looking over some transcripts at his desk when he scroll buzzed, indicating that he had a message. He retrieved the device from his pocket and opened it, revealing it to be a message from Qrow.

" _Hey Oz. I was hoping to get in touch with you._

 _It'd be really nice if you would accept my niece,_

 _Ruby, into Beacon this year. If you don't, well,_

 _THIS picture will be released to the public at large._

 _Best Wishes,_

 _Qrow. :)"_

 _PS, You and Glynda should come down to Vale and meet me at the bar. Tonight."_ Following the message was a picture that made Ozpin spit out the coffee in his mouth. Attached to the message was a picture that he was certain had been destroyed. It was a picture of a much younger Ozpin (late teens), as well as a much younger Glynda. In the picture, Qrow was on the floor, laughing at him and Glynda, who happened to be wearing each others clothing. The picture had been the result of a fool hardy bet in his youth, and being forced to switch uniforms with Glynda for a whole day had made him a laughing stock for years to come.

" _I was under the impression that James had destroyed the picture he'd had. Apparently I was mistaken."_ Ozpin mused. Shooting his old friend and fellow headmaster a message, the reply explained that it wasn't intentional.

"It seems Qrow has more dirt than I believed." Ozpin muttered, massaging his temples in annoyance. The door opened, revealing Glynda, holding a cup of tea. She didn't miss the look on Ozpin's face as she sat down in the chair opposite him.

"What's got you down?" She probed.

"This." Ozpin showed her the message. Before Glynda could react to the blatant blackmail she was bearing witness to, the headmaster's scroll buzzed again.

"Who is it now?" Ozpin uttered.

" _Hey, Ozpin. My Son really wants to go to Beacon,_

 _and If you don't accept him in, I'll release this picture_

 _Qrow gave me. I am willing to also gift you some of_

 _that special coffee blend my wife makes._

 _Hope to hear back soon._

 _R. Dresden, PI."_

Ozpin resisted the urge to toss the device at the wall and gave it to Glynda. Having had some time to absorb the information from before, she finished her tea and stood up, chuckling.

"I'll get a few more forms for you. You should get ready, wouldn't want to keep Qrow waiting, would you?" She spoke as she shut the door. Ozpin's head collapsed to his desk as he overheard Glynda's hysterical laughter as she walked away from his office.

"That man is going to be the death of me. Or at least my reputation." Ozpin sulked as he prepared to make his way into the city.

 _Most chapters will often have an omake of some sort. There will be exceptions, Either if it would seem inappropriate for a certain part of the story, or if I don't have an idea for one. To go along with the latter, if you have any ideas for any, feel free to leave them in a review or PM. Thanks in advance._


	2. The Shining Beacon

_Chapter 1: The Shining Beacon_

Silva yawned, sitting on one of the long, cushioned bench seats on the airship to Beacon. He mainly tuned out most of the conversations around him, though thought that he heard a girl complaining about having 'normal knees'. Writing it off, he decided to listen to the news on the nearby screen, hearing about Roman Torchwick's attempted robbery of a dust shop, as well as a Faunus protest being disrupted by the White Fang. Silva sighed and decided to take a quick nap when he noticed a hologram of a blonde woman appear nearby.

"Hello, and Welcome to Beacon." The woman announced. Silva heard someone wonder who she was. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch." He chuckled when he heard the same person let out an 'oh'.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram disappeared as soon as her speech was finished, and the conversations around him started up once more. He heard someone start freaking out about puke on her shoes and a smirk appeared on his face

" _Well, at least my time here won't be boring."_ Silva thought as the airship began to near Beacon. Several minutes later everyone began to disembark. Many of the students chuckled as they saw a blonde male rush over to a trash can, emptying the contents of his stomach inside. Walking past the unfortunate boy, two teens stood in the front courtyard, taking in the surroundings.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this." the blonde haired girl, Yang, said.

"Oh my gosh, sis! That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!" The younger girl next to her, Ruby, exclaimed, gushing over the variety of weapons she saw her fellow students carrying. Yang grabbed her younger sister's cape, giving it a tug to snap Ruby back to reality.

"Ow! Ow!"

"Easy there, little sister. They're just weapons!"

"'Just weapons'? They're an extension of ourselves! They're a part of us! Oh, they're so cool!" Ruby continued.

Well, why can't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you happy with it?" Yang asked, as Ruby unfolded her sniper/scythe hybrid, Crescent Rose, resting it over her shoulder.

"Of course I'm happy with Crescent Rose! I just really like seeing new ones. It's like meeting new people, but better..." Ruby explained before placing her weapon back into its sheath. Yang grabbed the hood of Ruby's cloak, playfully pulling it over her head.

"Ruby, come on, why don't you go try and make some friends of your own?"

"But... why would I need friends if I have you?" Ruby asked, pulling her hood back down

"Well..." Yang started as several of her friends appeared behind her "Actually, my friends are here. Gotta go catch up. Kay, see ya, bye." Yang spoke quickly before her and her friends dashed off, spinning Ruby and leaving her on her own.

"Wait, where are you going?! Are we supposed to go to our dorms? Where are our dorms? Do we have dorms?" Ruby asked, dazed. "I don't know what I'm doing..." She continued, collapsing backwards onto a luggage trolley, sending the contents onto the ground around her.

"What are you doing?!" Ruby heard, gaining her bearing to see a pale girl with white hair, wearing a white and light blue bolero jacket and combat skirt, though in white, and carrying a sword of some kind at her hip.

"Uh, sorry!" Ruby apologized

"Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?" Ruby tried to hand the girl one of the suitcases, who grabbed it violently from her.

"Give me that." The girl scolded, opening the case and pulling out a phial of a granular, colored powder. She slammed the case shut, several different colored powders flying out as it closed as the phials weren't sealed tightly. "This is Dust; mined and purified from the Schnee quarry." The girl continued, shaking the phial of red Dust in her hands, unknowingly shaking bits of the powder into Ruby's face. Unbeknownst to the two girls, Silva was walking down the path towards Beacon's entrance, rubbing his eyes when he took notice of the two. He was about to utter a greeting when he got a closer look at them, his eyes widening immensely.

"Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What have you got to say for yourself?!" The girl ranted, unaware of the girl choking on the dust. Ruby's nose started to twitch, and Silva paled. Weiss looked away from the girl as she heard someone scream, turning back to the red clad girl to see her sneeze.

 _BOOOOOOOOOM!_

The latent Dust in the air ignited, catching the two in an explosion with streaks of fire, ice and lightning. When the dust settled, the girl in white was covered in a layer of soot, her Aura protecting her from the harmful effects of the explosion. The girl stomped her foot and flared her Aura slightly, pushing the soot off of her. The phial that had been in her hands had been knocked away in the explosion, rolling across the ground and rolling to a stop in from of a black clad girl with a bow that was holding a book. The girl picked of the Dust phial, rotating it in her hand to see the emblem printed on it.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby pleaded, desperately trying to apologize to the girl she'd inadvertently blown up.

"Ugh, you complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The girl continued her tirade.

"Well, I-I..."

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know! We're here to fight monsters, so… watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess!" Ruby shot back, becoming fed up with the older girl's attitude.

"It's heiress, actually." The black clad girl behind them interjected, holding the phial of Dust the white haired girl had been holding earlier. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world.

"Finally, some recognition" The now identified Weiss replied.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners." The bow wearing girl added, angering Weiss and causing Ruby to giggle slightly.

"Wha- How dare you- The nerve of... Ugh!" The heiress stammered, grabbing the Phial the girl had picked up before walking off, heels clicking against the pavement as a couple of men in suits picked up the other suitcases, loading them onto the trolley and bringing them towards the school.

""I promise I'll make this up to you!" Ruby yelled to the quickly walking girl. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day... So, what's..." Ruby started to ask the black clad girl, only to see her walking towards the area near where the airship was docked. Ruby sighed dejectedly and collapsed to her knees, falling on to her back.

"Welcome to Beacon." She said in a sad tone. She heard footsteps and noticed someone standing above her. It was a boy around Yang's age, wearing a black hoodie under a white chest plate and shoulder pads, blue jeans and sneakers, holding out his hand to help her up.

"Hey. I'm Jaune." The boy, Jaune, introduced. Ruby accepted the hand and got to her feet.

"Ruby." Her eyes widened slightly and she chuckled "Aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?" Ruby asked. Jaune hung his head in defeat, unaware of Silva coming out from behind a tree, looking around the area. Ruby noticed the boy, clad in a silver jacket with glowing white designs running down the arms from the tops of the shoulders, along with metal clamps on the shoulders connected to black straps that were on the jacket's chest. He was also wearing black pants and silver, low top shoes. She also took notice of his eyes, which were a bright purple as opposed to her sister's lilac eyes, and saw that the boy was a couple inches shorter than Jaune. She noticed the mild look of panic on his eyes as he looked towards her, though he shook it off quickly.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked. Silva looked up while brushing the dirt off his jacket.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You and that other girl scared the crap outta me, though."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm also carrying dust, and leveling a good portion of the landing pad outside Beacon and being vaporized kinda scared me outta my wits. The name's Silvanus, by the way, though I'd prefer if you just called me Silva."

"I'm Ruby."

"Jaune." Jaune replied dejectedly, still recovering from Ruby's jab. The three strolled down one of the nearby paths, chatting.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on." Jaune explained.

"Look, I'm sorry! Vomit boy was the first thing that came to mind." Ruby replied, still laughing slightly

"Oh yeah? What if I called you Crater Face?" Jaune shot back. Silva chuckled at their antics.

"Hey, that explosion was an accident."

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue; ladies love it!" Jaune replied. Ruby and Silva were both skeptical.

"They do?" Ruby probed.

"They will! Well, I-I hope they will. My mom always says that... Never mind." Jaune rambled. Silva lightly face palmed as Ruby chuckled. An awkward silence came over the three.

"So….I got this thing!" Ruby spoke after several moments, revealing her weapon. Jaune stumbled back slightly to avoid accidentally being injured by the massive weapon.

"Whoa! Is that a scythe?"

"Let me see. Hmm. It is a scythe. Would I be correct in assuming it's also a high caliber sniper rifle?" Silva asked, inspecting the weapon in her hands.

"A-wha..?" Jaune asked, confused.

"It's also a gun. And yes." Ruby answered, cycling the bolt action for emphasis.

"Oh, That's cool!" Jaune said, amazed. Silva nodded in agreement.

"So, what've you got?" She asked the blonde.

"Oh! I uh… I got this sword." Jaune announced, drawing the blue handled arming sword at his hip with his right hand. The weapon was rather plain, the only real notable feature was the defined blood groove down the length of the blade. Ruby vocalized her approval of the weapon.

"Yeah, and I've got a shield too." He added, pulling the sheath from his waist and pressing a button on it, expanding into a white heater shield with a pair of gold crescent marking on it.

"Pretty cool." Silva added.

"So. What do they do?" Ruby asked, tapping the shield/sheath combo. Jaune bumped the button for the shift function and the shield popped off his arm and into the air slightly, where he fumbled with the consistently shifting object for several moments before it dropped onto the ground. He carefully picket it up and grasped it more firmly, careful not to hit the shift button.

"The shield gets smaller, so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..." he explained.

"But, wouldn't it weight the same?" Ruby queried.

"Yeah. It does.." Jaune trailed off, lowering his head.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, so I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"Wait-you made that?!" Jaune asked, shocked.

"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." Jaune explained.

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me!" Ruby laughed slightly. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah, the classics..."

"Well, what about you, Silva?" Ruby asked, shifting focus to the silver haired boy, who had zoned out.

"Hmm?"

"What weapons do you have?"

"Are you sure?" Silva tried to protest, but saw the pleading look in her eyes.

" _Damn."_ Silva sighed. "I just can't resist that face. Well, I actually have two weapons. Sort of."

"Sort of?" Jaune asked. Silva nodded and reached behind his back, pulling something out from his waist.

"A revolver?" Ruby asked as the boy twirled the weapon around his finger a couple times before grabbing the barrel of the weapon. Silva handed it to her, the self proclaimed 'weapon geek' looking it over. She first noticed its weight, a bit heavier than many normal revolvers. The revolver's body was chrome plated, with a six inch barrel with a weight attached below it, making the front part of the revolver rectangular in shape. The weapon's grip was black polymer, a circular emblem with a five pointed black line star on a silver background inlayed in the middle. The weighted portion of the barrel had several designs running along its length, and the words 'Dust to Dust', were elegantly engraved along the main portion of the barrel, right behind cuts in the sides of the barrel to disperse part of the muzzle flash. Ruby flicked a small switch above the grip with her thumb, which caused the revolver to swing open, revealing six empty chambers. The barrel moving also revealed an indentation along the bottom length of the barrel that was shaped like a crystal of some sort.

"Break action? Nice. It's very well designed. Does it transform into anything?"

"No, it doesn't. I do have several kinds of ammunition for it, though, which give it a serious kick. Maybe some other time I'll show you." Silva explained as the girl handed the weapon back to him, which he promptly holstered.

"Where's your second weapon? You said you had two."

"Right. Just watch." A slight silver Aura appeared around Silva, and following a clicking noise behind him, the designs on his arms began to glow blue. He rose his right arm in front of the two, palm open, when a blue mist enshrouded his hand. The mist began to glow with his aura and took shape, several moments later forming into a light blue, sword like weapon which he took hold of. The entire weapon was a bit under three feet in length, and the basic appearance resembled three diamond shapes, with three small diamond shaped holes spaced through the weapon which gave it shape. The handle of the weapon had a half diamond portion in front of it that ran from the diamond at the bottom to the one in the middle, protecting the hand in the front while at the same time connecting to the edge of the rest of the weapon.

"Wow." Ruby spoke, awed. She touched a part of the blade, pulling her finger back with a hiss as the frigid edge hurt her finger.

"What is it made of?" She asked, nursing the digit.

"It's made of Ice Dust."

"Dust? You mean that powder that Weiss had? How do you do it?" Ruby asked, eager to know more. Silva pointed at his jacket.

"Your...Jacket?" Jaune asked, confused as to how an article of clothing could create weapons.

"Yep. It's a Dust Projection Jacket. I call it 'The Armamentarium." He explained, turning around to reveal a metal device on his back between his shoulder blades, attached to the straps she'd seen on the front. The central part of the device was circular, containing four smaller evenly spaced circular chambers that were in different colors. Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green, with the blue chamber at the top. Outside the circular portion was an ornate metallic plate with several designs along it, which were currently shining blue like the blue colored chamber in the device. They then saw the circular portion quickly rotate several times, making the same noise they heard before, before coming to a stop on the red chamber. The designs on the metal outer portion of the device, as well as the designs on Silva's arms, change from a blue color to a red/orange color. He turned back around and held up the ice blade. His hand began to glow red slightly as the air around his hand distorted slightly from the heat. The ice blade began to glow the same red color and quickly melted, leaving a small cloud of steam that dissipated moments later. The circular chambers began to rotate several times once more, before stopping between two of the colored chambers, the designs on his jacket returning to the pale silver glow.

"The device on my back, along with my Aura, manages which type of Dust I wish to use. When it spins like that, it's retrieving the dust that hasn't been used from the channels in the jacket's arms, before replacing it with the other type of Dust I want to access. From there, I focus my Aura into the shape I wish to create and use the Dust as the material to create it. I made an ice weapon since ice is the easiest type of Dust to manipulate in this fashion. Normally it's tricky to do something like this, since normally you have to envision the shape and density of the weapon properly, otherwise you have a lower quality or even defective weapon." Silva explained.

"That's amazing." Jaune said, also impressed, though didn't understand too much of what he was explaining. Ruby was awestruck. Even she wouldn't have thought of something like that. Being able to create weapons out of thin air, in a sense, was brilliant. Her thoughts then drifted back to when Jaune first helped her up after Weiss and that other girl had went their separate ways.

"So, Jaune. Why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"

"Eh, why not? My mom always says, 'strangers are just friends you haven't met yet'." Jaune quoted. A thought suddenly came to Ruby as they continued to walk down the path near a fountain.

"Hey, where are we going?" Ruby suddenly spoke.

"Oh, I don't know! I was following you. Y-You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court? Some kind of recognizable landmark? Is, uh... Is that a 'no'?"

"That's a 'no'" Ruby replied. Silva pulled out a white and silver device from one of his pockets and expanded it.

"Ah, here we are. We need to head back this way." He responded, showing the two a map of the academy, with a small blip showing where they were.

"Thanks. We'd better get going." Jaune announced. The other two nodded their heads and made their way back near the landing pad, seeing a path to the main building. The trio found themselves in a large auditorium, and Silva walked off before they could say anything. Ruby looked around for a moment when she heard her sister's voice.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang called.

"Oh! Hey, I-I gotta go! See you after the ceremony!" Ruby told Jaune, leaving him by himself.

"Hey, wait!" Jaune sighed. "Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?!" Jaune lamented, not noticing the girl behind him in red and gold armor.

"How's your first day going, little sister?"

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby shot back, annoyed and with her arms crossed.

"Yikes! Meltdown already?" Yang asked, just playing it off as Ruby being stressed out.

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice..." Ruby tried to explain.

"Are you being sarcastic?" Yang probed, a smile broadly displayed on her face. Ruby scoffed at her sister's playful tone.

"I wish. I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me."

"You!" Weiss announced, standing right behind Ruby.

"Oh, God, it's happening again!" Ruby cried in terror, comically jumping into her sister's arms.

"You're lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!" Weiss scolded.

"Oh, my God, you really exploded." Yang spoke, entirely deadpan.

"It was an accident. It was an accident." Ruby said, first to Yang and then to Weiss. Weiss stops the girl by holding a pamphlet in front of her, titled 'DUST for dummies and other Inadequate Individuals'

"What's this?"

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Weiss said, Ruby interpreting the girls words as going faster and higher pitched the more she spoke.

"Uhh..."

"You really wanna start making things up to me?" Weiss asked.

"Absolutely?" Ruby replied, not entirely convinced.

"Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." Weiss announced, handing the girl the pamphlet.

"Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?"

"Yeah, great idea sis." Ruby agreed, turning to Weiss and holding out her hand. "Hello Weiss! I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies."

"Yeah! And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, like tall, blonde and scraggly over there!" Weiss remarked with a heavy dose of sarcasm, also taking a shot at Jaune with her response.

"Wow, really?!" Ruby asked, oblivious to the heiress' insults.

"No." Weiss spoke. She then noticed an arm reach over Ruby's shoulder, grabbing the 'Dust for Dummies' pamphlet from the young girl's hands.

"Hey, what are you..." Weiss started. Ruby turned around, seeing that is was Silva, quickly thumbing through the pamphlet Weiss had given her.

"I think you may wanna read that again yourself, Ice queen." Silva replied.

"You have some nerve." Weiss started before the boy interrupted her.

"From what I read, I distinctly saw that one is not to shake containers containing Dust. And the bottles in your suitcase didn't appear to be properly sealed either."

"How would you know?"

"First off, I had a front row view of that debacle, and Second, do you think you're the only one that uses Dust in combat?" Weiss noticed the container the boy was now holding, a glass phial with a black screw cap filled with Ice Dust. He looked at the reaction on her face when he noticed the scar near her left eye.

"Wait a second. Weiss?" Silva asked. Weiss looked confused until it dawned on her.

"Silvanus?! What are you doing here?" Weiss asked, genuinely shocked.

"Attending Beacon. Duh." Silva replied dryly.

"No, you idiot, That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant. My dad called in a favor and got me in, though there are some stipulations." Silva began to explain.

"Hold up a second!" Yang interjected, halting the conversation. "What's going on here?!"

"Ruby, may I ask who this is?" Silva asked, shaking his head slightly when he thought he saw Yang's eyes flash red momentarily.

"Oh. This is my older sister, Yang."

"Who is this, Rubes."

"Yang, this is Silva.." Ruby began to explain.

"I met up with her after the whole 'exploding' debacle." Silva finished, adding air quotes to 'exploding'. Before they could continue their conversation, the students noticed Ozpin appear on the stage, flanked by Ms. Goodwitch.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Some of the students began to whisper, wondering what he was referring to. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." Ozpin announced, before walking off stage.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Glynda added, before she too made her way off stage. Jaune, having heard Weiss' comment earlier, sauntered over once the crowd began to disperse.

"I'm a natural blonde, you know." Jaune said. Weiss only face palmed in exasperation. Even Silva gave the blonde male a look.

"So, Weiss. How do you and Silva know each other?" Yang asked playfully.

"It's a long story. Maybe someday I'll tell you." Silva replied before Weiss could come up with an answer. Ruby almost saw what looked like mild embarrassment on his face, thought the silver haired boy hid it well.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go put my gear in my assigned locker." Silva added, making his way out of the auditorium.

* * *

 _Evening:_

In Beacon's ball room, all the students were scattered around with various sleeping bags and pillows. Ruby was laying next to her older sister, writing into a journal she had with her.

"Hey crater face." She heard behind her.

"Come on, you know it was an accident." Ruby shot back, turning to face Silva, clad in a white tank top and gray sweat pants. She also noticed what looked like a locket hanging around his neck, a purple jewel in the middle. His hair was also unbound, letting it hang at shoulder length.

"I'm just poking fun. Just wanted to say hi." Silva announced before making his away to a sleeping bag a couple rows away, near a wall. She watched him nearly collapse onto the sleeping bag, falling asleep almost immediately.

"See something you like, sis?" Yang joked. Ruby nearly jumped, having not acknowledged her sister's presence when she spoke. Her reply was a pillow to Yang's face. Over by Silva, the boy was nearly fully asleep when he heard commotion nearby. His eyes opened and he turned to the source of the noise, where he noticed Yang and Ruby conversing with a girl in a monochrome colored Yukata and a black bow on her head. It might have been Silva's exhaustion impairing his sight, but he could've sworn he noticed her bow twitch every so often. After a quick scuffle involving the two sisters, he noticed Weiss in her sleeping attire stride over to the three, starting an argument over the noise.

" _While I do agree with the assertion that people should be getting to sleep, she is not helping the situation whatsoever."_ Silva thought, annoyed with everything. Back over with Ruby and Co, Weiss and Yang were arguing when the two were silenced by a pair of pillows knocking them off their feet. The four girls turned to the source of the thrown pillows, only seeing a large, flickering silver flare of light that disappeared moments later. Deciding to shelve the argument for later, Yang, Weiss and Ruby went back to their respective sleeping bags. Moments before Blake blew out the candles she was using as light for reading, she took one last look over at Silva, sleeping peacefully with what looked like a smile on his face.

* * *

 _Omake: Deleted Scene: The 'Real' reason Ozpin seemed off during the Speech. Inspired by webcomic made by Ryuzak1katsuragi of Deviantart, and another portion is based upon a certain scene from a familiar Abridged series:_

Ozpin awoke after a late night, almost ready to start the day. He dressed and stumbled out of his sleeping quarters, making his way to the teacher's lounge to make some much needed coffee. He grumbled a bit when he noticed the can near the coffee machine was empty.

"Oobleck never refills this thing. Figures." The green clad headmaster muttered, making his way to the nearby cabinet. He opened it and searched for another container of coffee. After five minutes of fruitless searching he found a note he'd overlooked previously when he opened the cabinet.

" _Ozpin, due to an experiment by Peach as well as Oobleck's normal intake,_

 _we are out of coffee. We'll have another shipment early tomorrow._

 _Love, Glynda."_

Ozpin only had one reasonable response to this revelation.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"

 _Vale (same time):_

"I hope you enjoy your time at Beacon, son." Robert said to his son

"I will, Dad. I.." Silva started.

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"**_

"What the heck?"

 _Border of Mistral (same time):_

Pyrrha Nikos was currently on one of the airships in transit to Beacon, attempting to tune out the whispers around her.

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"**_

"Strange." Pyrrha muttered before going back to tuning out the conversations around her.

 _Atlas, James Ironwood's office:_

Headmaster/General James Ironwood was sitting his his office, swearing over the sheer amount of paperwork he was suffering through.

"Man, why did I take that stupid bet to see who would be a better Headmaster with Oz?"

" _ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHH….!"**_

"Is that Ozpin? I hope whatever caused him to react like that gets a commendation." The headmaster/general mused with a chuckle as he continued to injure his hand signing documents, thought not before taking a swig of liquid from his flask.

 _Auditorium (The speech):_

I'll...keep this brief." Ozpin groaned, hunched over slightly. Glynda could only face palm at her old friend/boss' overreaction to not having any coffee.


	3. The First Step

_Chapter 2: The First Step_

Silva had gotten up early the next morning, taking a moment to stretch after sleeping on the floor of the ballroom. Brushing the hair out of his face, he noticed an orange haired girl with a grin on her face stalking near a black haired boy with what appeared to be a pink streak in his hair. He noticed the boy wake up.

"Wake up, lazy bud!" The girl said exuberantly, following up with singing 'It's morning' over and over.

" _Good god, who has_ that _much energy this early in the morning?"_ Silva pondered incredulously, making his way to the locker room to shower and dress, sans his jacket. When he arrived at the dining hall half an hour later, he spied the girl _still_ joyfully chatting with the green clad boy, learning that their names were Ren and Nora.

" _Where does it even come from? Ooh, waffles."_ Silva's chain of thought shifted when he noticed the food, grabbing a stack along with a few other things. He sat down at a nearby table, noticing the boy he'd sat down next to. The teen had long brown hair that fell to his upper back, partially obscured by a black slouch hat with the left side of the brim pinned to the side. He was clad in a black, open jacket with a dark green shirt, as well as a dark green cloak secured to the collar of his jacket with a decorative chain and pins, though the cloak was without a hood and was pulled back, bearing more resemblance to a cape. The two sat in silence as they ate, until Silva decided to break the ice.

"Morning."

"Likewise." The boy drawled, downing the last of the orange juice he'd been drinking. Silva noticed the slight shadow under the boy's eyes, caused by the hat they were wearing.

"I'm Silva." Silva announced, offering his hand.

"Verden." The boy replied, returning the gesture.

"How are you enjoying Beacon so far?"

"Can't complain, I suppose. Did you hear the commotion last night?" Verden asked, most likely referring to the argument that erupted between Ruby, Yang and Weiss.

"Unfortunately. I didn't get much sleep the other night and the last thing I needed was a bunch of girls arguing. At least it ended quickly, and after a night of sleep I feel great."

"Good to hear. Wouldn't want you to pass out during initiation due to sleep deprivation. Speaking of initiation, we should gear up. They'll probably be calling for us shortly."

"Gotcha. Catch you later, Verden." Silva said, bringing his plate over to the kitchen

"Likewise." The dark clad teen replied, giving a quick wave as he made his way out the door. Silva made his way to the locker room shortly after, punching in the code to unlock it. He attached the waist holster for his revolver, 'Dust to Dust', and pulled the circular portion of the dust projector off of his jacket, quickly filling each of the four chambers with a different kind of dust. He snapped the chambers shut and reattached the device to the other portion on his jacket, donning said item moments later. He then drew his revolver, admiring the light shining off its surface before flicking it open, loading it with six cartridges. He snapped the gun shut and with a twirl holstered it behind his back. He saw Yang and Ruby nearby.

"...So, you seem awfully chipper this morning!" Yang declared.

"Yep! No more awkward small talk or 'getting-to-know-you' stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." Ruby replied, stroking her hand over her weapon's inactive state with a contented sigh.

"Well remember, Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together." Yang spoke, causing Ruby to sigh in frustration.

"You sound like Dad!" She punctuated by placing her weapon back into her locker. "Okay, first of all, What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang brought up.

"Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your team or something..." Ruby said nervously.

"Maybe you should try being on a team with someone else?"

"My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"What? No! Of course I do! I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!"

"What the-?! I don't need to 'break out of my shell'! That's absolutely..."

"Ridiculous!" Jaune said, mirroring what Ruby was about to say as he passed between the sisters. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today?" Jaune ranted, holding a map while trying to find the locker with his weapons. He passed by Weiss talking to a red haired girl in stiff leather and bronze armor and a red mini-skirt. Silva caught bits of the conversation as he was snugging his cuffs, learning that the heiress was talking to Pyrrha Nikos, a famous Mistrali huntress in training.

" _Interesting. Looks like Weiss is trying to convince her to pair up with her. Can't say I'm surprised."_ Silva observed as Jaune butted in on the girls conversation. A thought suddenly occurred to him.

" _Now that I think about it, I haven't given any though to who_ I _would like to be teamed up with either. I suppose I'll just burn that bridge when I get to it."_ He nearly hit the floor laughing when Jaune was pinned to a nearby locker with Pyrrha's spear. Hearing the announcement to get to the cliffs, he gave one last look over his equipment and followed Ruby and Yang, the former helping Jaune limp down the hall.

* * *

 _Beacon Cliffs:_

The first year students all found themselves lined up on a cliff behind the edge of Beacon, overlooking the Emerald Forest where the Initiation would take place, standing on rectangular, metal plates with Beacon's emblem embossed on them, which many of the students assumed to be launch pads. Silva was on the plate to the right of Jaune, and noticed Verden farther back near Weiss, a pair of large sheathes at his thighs tilted forward at a 45 degree angle. To the left of the hyper girl Nora stood a male teen with slicked back gray hair, clad in a dark gray duster and a white scarf draped around his neck. He had what looked like a large cross in a drop leg holster on his right thigh, and near the beginning of the line of plates opposite him stood a tall male wearing an orange bandana covering his head, clad in gray armor over an orange shirt and black pants with a large sword and what looked like some kind of rifle on his back.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin announced.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates...today." Ms. Goodwitch explained. Silva heard Ruby whine slightly.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ruby groaned at the man's words. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin revealed. Silva thought he heard what sounded like glass shattering near him, but shook it off as the man continued.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Ruby and Silva heard the nervous laughter emanating from Jaune.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We'll regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune began

"Good! Now, take your positions." Ozpin continued, appearing to ignore Jaune. Several of the nearby students got into a pose that suited them.

Ren readied his bladed machine pistols

Nora crouched low on her plate, her weapon on her back

Yang raised her fists forward in a boxer's pose, her yellow wristlets forming into large gauntlets that had a small gun barrel above the index fingers and seemed to be loaded with shotgun rounds

Ruby turned to her left and held one of her arms back, ready to grab her weapon

Verden leans forwards slightly, crossing his arms with his hands hanging over his sheathes.

Silva turned similarly to Ruby, bending his knees slightly and holding his arms down with the designs on his arms glowing with Ice Dust

A large boy in armor standing between Ren and Yang bends forward slightly, holding his arms out with his hands splayed open

The Gray haired boy pulled the cross from its holster, grasping onto the top half of the bottom part of the object.

The bandana wearing swordsman merely rested his hand near the handle of his sword.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question." Jaune asked again, not noticing the plates beginning to launch people into the air. "So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No. You will be falling."

"Oh, uh, I see... So, did you, like, hand out parachutes for us? Jaune continued.

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy.'" Ozpin explained as Nora and Ren were launched.

"Uh-huh... Yeah." Jaune spoke, still not understanding. Yang winked at her sister before donning a pair of aviators, moments later launching into the air with a yell of exhilaration, the scythe wielding girl following close behind.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategyYYY….!" Jaune yelled as his plate suddenly launched him into the air. Silva flexed his fingers and felt himself launch into the air alongside his fellow students. Ozpin observed the cloud of students above him, taking a swig from his coffee mug.

* * *

The large group of airborne students began their descent and moved to implement their landing strategies. Ruby held her weapon aloft in its compact rifle mode as she collided with a black bird, sending it spiraling into the forest below.

"Birdie, no!" Ruby cried out, seconds later firing several rounds from her weapon in front of her, using the recoil to slow her descent before shifting her weapon to scythe form, using the scythe blade to catch a nearby tree branch, spinning around it once before dropping to the ground. Weiss readied her rapier, seconds later jumping off a series of platforms resembling large, white snowflakes. Ren embedded one of the blades of his guns into a tree, spiraling around the trunk to slow his descent before landing on his feet, brushing some dust off his clothes. The boy looked up at the sound of gunfire to see Yang, using the recoil from her gauntlets to propel herself forward, hearing her cries of excitement as she sailed above the tree tops, eventually running along a few trees and ending her descent with a roll.

"Nailed it." she spoke off hand while breaking into a run. In the air, Pyrrha brought her large bronze shield in front of her, crashing through several trees before rolling onto an incredibly large branch, quickly switching her weapon into it's rifle form. She looked through the weapon's scope, seeing Jaune falling without an apparent plan. Acting quickly, she twirled her rifle in her hand, shifting it into it's javelin form. He held her left arm in front of her to gauge the distance while she readied the spear, moments later tossing the weapon, hitting its trigger to further increase its speed. The girl watched the spear sail forward, several moments later hearing a noise, followed by a far off 'thank you' from Jaune.

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha called out to the boy, preparing to make her way to him. As soon as Silva's feet had left the plate, he brought his legs to his chest and pushed his hands down, using the Dust to craft what resembled a snowboard out of ice, including a pair of rungs for his feet to grip to. He then triggered the mechanism of his Dust projector, switching it to the green chamber. He focused a burst of the green Dust to his hands and forced them downwards, the Dust propelling him higher into the air. He began to spin as he descended, grabbing the heel side of his improvised snow board.

"YEAH!" Silva bellowed, taking his hand off the board as he reached the tree line, carefully grinding and hopping along several branches, before dismounting the ice snowboard with a front flip, landing on his feet as the ice board's pointed front impaled a few inches into a tree. Verden pulled the objects from his sheathes, which were a pair of customized tonfa. He opened the handles and held the objects by the bottoms, grabbing onto a tree branch in a similar way as Ruby with her scythe, though with his dismount he rotated through the air a few times before sliding to a stop. He looked around momentarily and grasped his tonfa by their main handles, beginning to make his way to the designated point. The gray haired teen kept his arms down, reducing his air drag until he passed below the tree tops. The boy rose the arm that was holding the cross in front of him, pressing a button to extend it into a large spear. The now extended weapon caught between two tree trunks as he raised his arm slightly, allowing the gray haired teen to spin around before pressing the button again, retracting the blade and shaft as he landed, steadying himself. The boy looked up, seeing a pair of wandering Beowolves. The boy let a smirk appear on his face and he extended his spear again, getting the attention of the lupine Grimm. The bandana clad boy flashed briefly with an orange pulse of Aura, before unsheathing his sword to slice through one of the trees he was about to collide with, which he rode down to the ground as it toppled a few neighboring trees nearby. The boy sheathed his blade and began to look around. As soon as Ruby hit the ground, she began sprinting into the forest, desperately trying to find her sister.

" _Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang, gotta find…"_ "Yang! Yaaang!" Ruby called, hoping the brawler would hear her. In her mild hysterical state, she began to think about some of the other people she could be paired with.

" _Oh, this is bad, this is really bad... What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first? Well, there's always Jaune. He's nice. He's funny! ...I don't think he's very good in a fight, though."_ She pictured a cartoon Jaune, which ended up being attacked by Beowolves. " _Ooh! What about Blake?! So mysterious, so calm... Plus she likes books! Then again, I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a conversation with her... Ugh!"_ Ruby then pictured a cartoon Blake, though it showed her edging away as a cartoon Ruby tried to initiate a conversation.

" _Okay... Who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, Silva, aaaand..."_ In her haste, she noticed too late a familiar girl in white standing in a small clearing. Ruby skidded to a halt as the girl turned to face her, stopping just in time for their eyes to meet. After a few moments, Weiss turned and began to walk away.

"Wait! Where are you going?! We're supposed to be teammates..." Ruby sulked, kicking the ground dejectedly. Weiss was a short distance away, stumbling through the brush while pushing plants out of her face. The heiress heard grunting above her, looking to see Jaune, pinned to the side of a tree with Pyrrha's javelin and trying to free himself. He noticed Weiss and offered a nervous wave. He groaned when the girl turned and walked back off in the direction she'd come from, once again leaving him alone and still stuck in the tree. As Weiss passed Ruby again, she grabbed the hood of the younger girl's cloak, dragging her along with her.

"By no means does this make us friends."

"You came back!" Ruby replied joyfully, her boots dragging across the dirt. At the height Jaune was stuck at on the tree, he could see the duo and tried to get their attention to help get him down.

"Wait! Come back! Who's going to get me down from here?!"

"Jaune?" The boy looked down at the base of the tree, seeing Pyrrha standing below him with her arms crossed. "Do you... have any spots left on your team?"

"Very funny..." Jaune spoke lowly, though gave the girl a smile as they locked eyes, which she returned. Farther in the forest, Weiss was trudging along, Ruby a short distance behind.

"What's the hurry?"

"I will not let my mission be delayed because you're too slow! I swear, if I get a bad grade because of your..." Weiss was cut off by Ruby quickly appearing next to her, due to her semblance enhanced speed. "What the...?"

"I'm not slow, see? You don't have to worry about me!" Ruby reassured her. Weiss looked back at where she'd been a moment earlier, wondering how she could've moved that quickly.

"When did...?"

"Weiss, just because I don't exactly know how to deal with people doesn't mean I don't know how to deal with monsters!" Ruby started, putting an arm around Weiss' shoulder. "You're about to see a whole different side of me today, Weiss, and after it's all over, you're going to be like, 'Wow! That Ruby girl is really, really cool... and I wanna be her friend!'" Ruby then ran forward and disappeared, leaving behind a trail of rose petals, which Weiss could actually touch as she waved them out of her way. She heard the snapping of twigs and rustling in the bushes around her.

"You may be fast, but you still excel at wasting time!" She announced. She only noticed the noises around her, not seeing her partner anywhere."Ruby?" She called out, not noticing the piercing red eyes locked onto her, emanating from the bushes.

"Ruby...?" Weiss asked weakly. The rustling sounds increased in volume, and as the pale girl turned around, she caught sight of a Beowolf, standing a full head taller than her and snarling.

"Ruby!"

* * *

 _Silva:_

The sixteen year old carefully stepped forward, holding a newly formed Ice blade like what he'd shown Ruby the previous afternoon.

" _First order of business, find a partner."_ Silva determined, keeping a sharp eye out for Grimm or fellow students with itchy trigger fingers. He stopped and crouched near a bush, listening carefully for any noise.

 _Crunch_

 _Crunch_

 _Click_

"Hello?" Silva called. Seconds later one of the larger bushes parted, revealing the bandana clad swordsman that had been opposite him on the plates. Silva noticed his weapon, which was actually a level action rifle that doubled as a sheath for his sword, the sword's pommel extended into a stock. He also noticed that the boy's bandana had a series of black interconnected spirals on it, and on his chest piece was a golden wolf head, another being located on the flowing portion of his orange waist sash.

"Ah, good. I thought it was another Ursa before you said something." The boy answered, sliding the weapon onto a circular clamp on his back. The two locked eyes for a moment, cementing them as partners.

"Looks like we're partners. I'm Silva."

"Rowan. Now, you wouldn't happen to know which way north is, would you?" Rowan asked nervously, rubbing the back of his bandana clad head. Silva sighed and pulled out his scroll.

"Looks like it's this way." Silva pointed in a direction, just as gunfire rang out in the distance. "We'd better be careful. I haven't come across any Grimm myself yet, but that could change quickly." Just as the words left Silva's mouth, a Beowolf emerged from the bushes Rowan had exited moments earlier. Rowan reached to the sword at his back, but stopped when Silva eradicated the Grimm with a quick, lunging slash that removed its head.

"Not bad." Rowan complimented. Silva nodded and the two began the trek to the temple.

* * *

Ruby and Weiss panted after retreating from a quick encounter with a group of Beowolves, Weiss irritated by the dark crimson haired girl's attitude, her actions causing the heiress to miss a Dust infused strike that set a small portion of the forest on fire.

"What was that?! That should've been easy!" Ruby asked in annoyance.

"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!" Weiss retorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The younger girl replied with a scoff.

"I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during an encounter!"

"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!" Ruby commented, getting fed up with Weiss' insults.

"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss snapped, walking off into the bushes. Ruby began to follow, though not before slicing down a tree in frustration. Unknown to the two girls, a large, dark feather descended from where the tree had been standing, disturbing the avian creature above. Back at the top of the cliffs, Glynda was looking over the camera feeds on her scroll, seeing Nora and Ren pairing up.

"The last pair has been formed, sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." The blonde haired woman announced to her colleague.

"Mmmm..."

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat." She continued, closing her black scroll. "I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" Glynda asked, though the man didn't answer her question. "Professor Ozpin?" The aforementioned man was too concerned with the feed on his own scroll, showing the pair of Ruby and Weiss struggling to work together.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha, after the latter had taken some time to explain about and release her partner's Aura, found themselves in front of a cave with crude carvings etched on the side of the cave's entrance, detailing several human shaped figures in combat with a large scorpion like creature. Assuming that the relics they were looking for lie inside, the two carefully made their way inside, Jaune crafting a makeshift torch to light their surroundings.

"I'm not sure this is it." Pyrrha spoke.

"Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for, like, five more feet?" Jaune asked. No sooner did he finish when he tripped on something at his feet, dropping the torch into a small puddle, leaving the two in pure darkness.

"Do you... feel that?"

"Soul-crushing regret?"

"No, it's...warm." The two continued onward, blindly maneuvering farther into the cave until a small gold light comes into view, illuminating the now elated look on Jaune's face.

"That's the relic!" He spoke, slowly reaching out to grab the glowing object. As soon as his hand was about to grab hold of the 'relic', the glowing object glided away from his hand.

"Hey! Bad….relic." Jaune said, after another few missed swipes he lunged towards the object, grasping onto it with both hands. The object rose into the air, Jaune now dangling a couple inches off the ground as several red eyes opened directly in front of him, belonging to an enormous Grimm.

"Jaune..." Pyrrha's voice wavered.

* * *

"Think this is it?" Yang asked her partner, Blake, as they came across the ruins of a stone temple and several pedestals. The black haired girl gave her blonde partner an incredulous look as they walked closer. They saw that the pedestals each held a chess piece, either white or black.

"Chess pieces?"

"Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here."

"Well, I guess we should pick one."

"Hmm..." Yang pondered the choices, eventually settling on a gold Knight. "How about a cute little pony" She asked. Her partner smirked at the display.

"Sure."

"That wasn't too hard."

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake said. Before they could decide on their next course of action, a shrill, high-pitched scream echoed throughout the forest.

"Some girl is in trouble! Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked. She looked at her partner, who was staring up at the sky above them.

* * *

Back at the cave Pyrrha and Jaune chose to explore, the crimson haired girl quickly emerged from the entrance, seconds later being followed by a gigantic scorpion Grimm, a Deathstalker, busting a large hole through the otherwise small gap the teens had entered. Jaune was still hanging from the Deathstalker's glowing stinger, screaming.

"Help! Whoa! Why?! Pyrrha! Help! Pyrrha, this is not the relic! It's not! Do something!" Jaune desperately cried.

"Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let…." Before the girl could finish her sentence, the scorpion Grimm reared its tail backwards, flinging it forward and sending Jaune flying further into the forest.

"….go." She finished, watching which direction her partner was flung. She turned back to the Deathstalker and laughed nervously for a moment before running away from the creature.

"Blake, did you hear that?" Yang asked again. "What should we do?" Yang decided to see what had Blake's attention, hearing someone screaming from above.

"Heads uuuuuuuup!" Ruby's voice echoed as she plummeted towards the ground, her limps flailing about in an attempt to slow her descent. Before she could hit the ground, Jaune (having been propelled through the air by The Deathstalker's tail) collided with the younger girl, the two being thrown into a tree a short distance away. Ruby is sitting against the side of the tree on one of the branches, disoriented from the collision.

"Oohhh...what was that?" Ruby asked. In her dazed state she saw what looked like cartoon Beowolves running in a circle around her, though it passes once she shakes her head momentarily.

"Eh-hem" Ruby looked up and saw Jaune, hanging upside down from a branch above her. "Hey Ruby."

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked incredulously.

 _To be Continued._

* * *

 _Omake: Initiation Bloopers Part 1: (Take Off/Landing Outtakes)_

 _Outtake 1: Not as strong as he thought._

As soon as Silva's feet had left the plate, he brought his legs to his chest and pushed his hands down, using the Dust to craft what resembled a snowboard out of ice, including a pair of rungs for his feet to grip to. He then triggered the change mechanism of his Dust projector, switching it to the green chamber. He focused a burst of the green Dust to his hands and forced them downwards, the Dust propelling him higher into the air. He began to spin as he descended, grabbing the heel side of his improvised snow board.

"YEAH!" Silva bellowed, taking his hand off the board as he reached the tree line, preparing to land on one of the branches. When his board connected with the first branch, a cracking sound was heard. Silva paled as he looked down. In his haste, the board he'd created wasn't dense enough to tolerate the stress of the impact. The second branch he landed on snapped the board in two, causing him to land on a very sensitive part of his anatomy. The high pitched screech was loud enough to cause a popping noise in Ozpin's ears, and caused several Faunus near Beacon, including Blake, to wince as the shrill sound hurt their sensitive ears. Silva unceremoniously slid off the branch, slamming into another on the way down before painfully landing on his back.

"Ow." He squeaked.

 _Outtake 2: Pyrrha's a terrible shot (Inspired by Ryuzak1katsuragi)_

After using her shield to crash through several trees, Pyrrha came to a stop on a nearby tree branch, rolling to her feet while brandishing Miló in it's rifle form. She looked through the weapon's scope, seeing Jaune unprepared for the landing. Thinking quickly, the warrior girl spun his weapon, shifting it into it's javelin form. She held up her thumb to gauge the distance and launched the weapon, pressing the trigger to further increase the weapon's speed. She watched the javelin's flight path, her eyes widening as it continued. The girl started to sweat as something occurred to her. She didn't account for the wind shear when she launched the weapon, and it was now off course. It's point of impact..."

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!" A blood curdling scream echoed through the forest. The spear had instead struck something much, lower.

"Whoops… I'm Sorry!" Pyrrha said. _"It's...technically….still a bull's eye."_ She shuddered.

 _Outtake 3: Timber!_

Rowan soared through the air, readying his sword as he neared the treeline. He cleanly sliced through the upper part of the trunk, riding it down into the forest below. What he didn't see was a familiar white clad heiress who'd landed in the tree's path just moments earlier, and was too exhausted to move out of the way.

"Alright! I made it!" Rowan proclaimed triumphantly, not noticing the white clad girl, hidden by some of the tree branches and dazed as he ran off.

 _Outtake 4: The Clothes line_

The gray haired teen kept his arms down, reducing his air drag until he passed below the tree tops. The boy rose the arm that was holding the cross in front of him, pressing a button to extend it into a large spear. To his misfortune, he didn't raise his arm high enough, so when he extended the spear, instead of spinning around it to slow his momentum, the boy instead slammed chest first into the shaft of his weapon, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground, his weapon still stuck in the tree. He coughed and unsteadily got to his feet, taking notice of a group of Beowolves surrounding him. He looked up, still seeing his weapon stuck in the tree above him, out of reach.

"Shit." Was all the boy could mutter before the Grimm pounced.

 _Outtake 5: Knocked off course_

As soon as Silva's feet had left the plate, he brought his legs to his chest and pushed his hands down, using the Dust to craft what resembled a snowboard out of ice, including a pair of rungs for his feet to grip to. He then triggered the change mechanism of his Dust projector, switching it to the green chamber. He prepared to propel himself higher with a burst of Wind Dust when something violently crashed into him.

"Sorry!" He heard Yang yell. The collision made him release the Dust, propelling him off his intended course. He corrected his descent as best he could, managing to slow himself a bit by catching a couple of branches with his board but was still going too fast. What he didn't see was that the path that he was taking would lead him straight to where Ruby had landed. Right as the girl prepared to sprint into the forest, the silver haired boy collided with her back, sending the two tumbling into a tree.

"Ow. Dammit, Yang." Silva complained, pulling his feet free of his improvised snowboard. He turned and saw Ruby, eyes spiraling and dazed.

" _Goodie, I knocked out the sister of the blonde with a short fuze."_ Silva thought as he felt a presence lock onto him. Moments later Yang appeared from the treeline, her eyes blood red and bathed in a fiery Aura.

"Why me?! Silva cried as the blonde brawler sent the boy straight out of the clearing with a gauntlet strengthened straight right to the face. Just at that time, Ruby regained her senses, seeing Yang standing in the clearing.

"YANG! Wait, didn't I hear Silva nearby?" The girl asked. Yang waved her off as the two partnered up, leaving an unconscious Silva embedded into a rock in a nearby clearing.

 _Outtake 6: Butt of the Joke/s_

Silva and Rowan were making their way towards the temple, keeping an eye out around them. When Silva looked up one of the trees, he came face to face with Jaune, pinned to a tree by Pyrrha's javelin.

"Hey, Jaune. How's it hanging?" Silva joked. Jaune slumped.

"Really?!" Jaune asked, annoyed.

"Sorry about that pun. Look, to make you feel better, how about I hang with you 'til you get down?" Jaune just gave the younger boy a look. Silva decided to keep going.

"So, how did this happen?" Silence "Come on, don't leave me hanging. Okay, enough puns. Hang in there while we get some help." Silva said, he and Rowan laughing as they disappeared into the trees.

"I know I should be begging for their help but I'd rather stay here than remain the butt of their jokes." The blonde lamented.

"Hey, Jaune. How's it hanging?" He looked down to see Pyrrha. The blonde knight yelled in frustration, leaving the red haired girl confused.

 _E_ _nd of Outtakes._


	4. Race to the Finish

_Chapter 3: Race to the Finish_

"Did your sister just fall from the sky? Blake asked incredulously.

"I..." Yang began when they noticed a series of trees collapsing nearby. The culprit was an Ursa, flailing about as a pink shock wave collides with it's back followed by a 'yee haw'. The shock wave caused it to collapse to the ground and eject it's passenger, Nora, before expiring. Nora got to her feet, her weapon on her back, and turned back to the now dead Ursa.

"Aww, it's broken." The girl remarked as she prodded the unmoving creature, her partner appearing from the path created by the Ursa's rampage, panting heavily while using the dead Grimm to steady himself.

"Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again." Ren asked. He looked to where his teammate had been standing, only seeing a pink outline. His line of sight focused in on the temple, seeing his partner over by the relics.

"~I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!~" She sang, referring to the white rook chess piece she'd chosen that she was playing with.

"NORA!" Ren yelled. Nora stopped and turned to him.

"Coming, Ren." She replied, jubilantly skipping over to the boy as the rook she'd been balancing on her head dropped into her hand.

"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Yang attempted to answer her partner's question when Pyrrha comes through another part of the forest, avoiding the collapsing trees and deadly pincers of the Deathstalker pursuing her.

"Jaune!" The girl called out, still evading the Deathstalker.

"Pyrrha!"

"Whoa!" Ruby said as she ran towards the end of the branch.

"Ruby!?" Jaune whined, hoping the girl would help him down. The girl rolled to the ground, landing right in front of Yang, Blake and Nora.

"Ruby?"

"Yang!" Ruby replied.

"Nora!" Nora butted in, knocking the two off balance as they were about to hug. The group watched Pyrrha continue to evade the scorpion Grimm as Yang's annoyance skyrocketed at the constant interruptions.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked. Yang snapped.

"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" She raged, eyes red and shrouded in a fiery Aura. The next two seconds passed without incident, an exhausted Ren running over to join his partner, who was looking up into the air with Blake and Ruby.

"Umm...Yang?" Ruby asked, tapping her sister on the arm a couple times. Yang slumped in defeat. Above the group of teens, Weiss was currently dangling from the talon of a Nevermore, a large avian Grimm.

"How could you leave me?!" Weiss demanded, slowly loosing her grip on the talon.

"I said 'jump'!" Ruby justified.

"She's gonna fall." Blake said.

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling." Ren added. Jaune, after managing to get unstuck from the tree, steadied himself on a branch as he saw the white haired heiress falling. Seeing a chance to genuinely impress Weiss, he leaped from the tree, arms outstretched.

"Just...dropping in?" Jaune asked as he caught the girl. The girl is speechless and looks down. Jaune does the same and realizes that his plan wasn't as well conceived as he thought.

"Oh god." Was all he could say before the two fell to the ground, Jaune face first with Weiss landing on the boy's back.

"My hero." Weiss spoke sarcastically.

"My back..." Jaune groaned. Pyrrha's exhaustion at evading the Deathstalker for so long finally caught up to her, giving the Grimm the chance to knock her away with one of its pincers, sending the girl sliding in front of Yang and the others.

"Great, the gang's all here. Now we can die together!" Yang said. The majority of the group wasn't sure if the girl was being sarcastic or not.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said with determination, rushing the Deathstalker head on with a battle cry

"Ruby, wait!" Yang yelled, trying to keep her sister from getting hurt. The girl used her scythe's recoil to propel herself quickly towards the creature, though the scorpion Grimm merely knocking the girl away with it's pincers, incurring no damage from the girl.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby stuttered, trying to play off her failed attempt at damaging the Grimm. She turned towards the Deathstalker, firing a round from her weapon at it's face, the bullet merely ricocheting off it's armored carapace. Ruby sheathed the weapon as she began to run back towards Yang and the others, sparing a glance behind her when she heard a loud screech. The Nevermore loomed above, slowly closing the gap between itself and the young girl. The avian Grimm slowed it's speed, flapping its wings in front of itself that launched a flurry of razor sharp feathers towards Ruby and Yang. Yang managed to stop her charge to avoid the projectiles, though one pinned the cape of Ruby's cloak to the ground, tying her in place.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang called.

"I'm trying." The girl struggled to remove her cloak from the object pinning it down when the scorpion Grimm reached her, rearing it's glowing stinger for the death blow.

"Ruby!" Yang cried out, noticing something pass her at a speed she couldn't follow. Ruby braced herself for the strike and closed her eyes. The only thing she heard was a cracking noise.

"You are so childish!" Ruby heard. She opened her eyes to see the Deathstalker's stinger encased in ice. She lowered her arms and saw Weiss, her dust rapier embedded in the ground connected to one of her glyphs.

"Weiss…?"

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit…difficult..." Weiss continued as she removed her weapon from the ground. "But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if _you_ quit trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."

"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby explained, thankful for her partner's quick action.

"You're fine." Weiss reassured, walking back towards the others. Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

"Normal knees.." She muttered under her breath contentedly, getting to her feet.

"Whoa." Ruby uttered as she saw the Deathstalker still stuck in the ice, trying to free it's tail. She turned around and saw Yang run towards her, embracing her in a near spine-shattering hug.

"So happy you're okay!" Yang said with relief. The two then looked up, seeing the Nevermore still circling around. They made their way back to the others as they all looked at the Grimm looming above them.

"Guys? That thing's circling back. What are we gonna do?" Jaune replied worriedly.

"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss replied.

"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs." Ruby added with a nod to the Heiress. "There's no point in fighting these things."

"Run and live; That's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune commented. He and Ruby made their way to the pedestals, Ruby grabbing a white knight while Jaune grabbed a white rook. The others looked in the direction of the Deathstalker, seeing the scorpion Grimm slowly but surely breaking the ice keeping it restrained.

"Time we left!" Ren announced, seeing as the area wasn't going to be safe for much longer.

"Right. Let's go!" Ruby commanded as the group made their way forward, except for Yang and Blake. The bow wearing girl noticed the smile on her partner's face.

"What is it?" Blake asked. Yang stared proudly at her sister, who was leading the group back towards the cliffs.

"Nothing..." Yang replied as the two moved to catch up to the others.

* * *

"Rowan? You hear that?" Silva called, stopping near a tree as the air was filled with several 'popping' noises.

"Gunfire. Not far off either." Rowan replied.

"Let's go see." Silva readied his Ice blade and the two proceeded towards the source of the noise, soon enough coming across Verden and the gray haired boy, fighting against the remnants of a group of Beowolves. The front parts of Verden's tonfa were smoking and the boy was surrounded by spent shell casings, while the other finished off the last of the Grimm with a swift thrust from his spear.

"Silva? Good to see you." Verden spoke, inserting his tonfa into his sheathes momentarily to reload them.

"Me too. I see you found your partner." Silva remarked as the gray haired boy collapsed his weapon, returning it to its holster.

"Liard." The boy said, brushing off his duster.

"I'm Silva. The temple should be close by. Let's go." The silver haired boy replied. The others followed, and before long they found themselves near a partially collapsed temple and several pedestals. 'Lee', as Liard preferred to be called, walked up first, grabbing a black knight piece. Silva walked up after, grabbing the other black knight, unaware of his fellow student's choice. They took a quick look around, noticing the destruction of several trees as well as a slowly melting outcropping of ice, no doubt created with Dust. The four started back for the cliffs, stopping in a clearing when a howling sound was heard nearby. The four looked around, trying to spot the Grimm stalking them. The four soon noticed nearly two dozen Beowolves emerged from the bushes around them, red eyes locked onto them.

"It looks like we're surrounded." Silva announced.

"It appears that way." Lee agreed.

"What's the plan?" Verden chimed in.

"We're gonna have to take them. Stay close, watch each others backs. Once we've culled their numbers a fair amount we'll make our way back to the cliffs." Silva ordered, securing his grip on the Ice blade in his left hand.

"Sounds good." Rowan spoke, drawing his blade and extending the handle. Lee extended his spear and Verden twirled his tonfa with a grin. Two of the Beowolves near Silva charged, lashing out with their claws. Silva raised his blade to block, his free hand conjuring a second blade identical to the first which quickly beheaded the creatures. He immediately twist flipped out of the way of another Beowolf, which met the business end of Lee's spear, who flung the Grimm over his head and onto another of it's ilk. A Beowolf tried to attack the boy while his back was turned, though it's attack was routed by the blade that was jabbed into it's chest. It looked at the boy, holding a small, double edged sword that had been hidden in the bottom part of his spear's shaft. The blade roughly ripped from the Grimm's chest before it's head was swiftly removed from its shoulders. Verden skillfully twirled his tonfa around him, keeping the trio of wolf Grimm surrounding him at bay. He blocked the claw from the Beowolf in front of him with his left tonfa, before firing two rounds from his right tonfa. Verden whirled around and slammed the back end of his right tonfa into another of the creatures, the recoil from the tonfa gun adding extra force to the blow. He dived back a couple feet and flicked a small dial on his tonfa handles, a small protrusion at the bottoms flicking around to align with the barrels. From the protrusions, a small, foot long blade emerged from each, which were used to quickly remove the hands of one of his attackers.

"I'm sorry, did you need those?" Verden quipped before shooting the Grimm.

"Come on!" Rowan boasted, goading two of the creatures to charge him. He cleaved the first in half through the shoulder, then blocked the lunge of the other, kicking it back before finishing it off with a stab to its head. He swapped his sword to his left hand and grabbed his rifle/sheath, firing the weapon one handed at a Beowolf attempting to charge at Lee. He flip cocked the weapon and sheathed his sword, taking down another few Beowolves with precision hits to the head. Lee collapsed his weapon and waited for a Beowolf to lunge at him. He rotated the cross until the bottom point was facing the Grimm, pressing the transformation button as soon as it was in range. Due to the power in the mechanism, the Grimm was struck hard by the extending handle, the sharp edge of the cross impaling through its chest. Lee removed the dead Beowolf and spared a glance at Silva, who threw his Ice blades at a pair of charging Grimm. The first Beowolf dodged the spinning weapons, though the second was dispatched by the Dust weapons. Lee heard a clicking noise and saw a Falchion made of Fire Dust form in the boy's hand, the steaming blade easily tearing through the lupine creature. Silva then tossed the weapon at another trio of Beowolves, impacting at the Grimm's feet. Before they could react, the weapon glowed brightly before exploding, incinerating two of the Grimm immediately. Silva rolled to avoid a strike from another Beowolf, an Alpha, which quickly charged towards him, intent on tearing the boy apart. Silva knew his teammates wouldn't be able to assist him in time, engaged in their own skirmishes, and prepared to meet the Alpha Beowolf head on. When the large Grimm swung its claw at him, Silva jumped over the appendage, spinning as he formed a pair of Ice blades which he grasped in a reverse grip, and delivered a pair of slashes to the Beowolf's back as he landed, though due to it's armored hide it only knocked it away. Silva pressed his advantage, spinning as he advanced on the Alpha, delivering several strikes with his blades to keep it off balance. He swatted away its claws when it attempted to retaliate, and Silva saw his chance. He flipped both weapons to a normal grip and swung hard, charging the weapons with more Aura as he caught the Alpha Beowolf in the neck, the Ice blades slowing momentarily before brutally ripping through its neck, sending the Beowolf's head tumbling away. The four quickly made their way back to each other as another pack of Beowolves entered the clearing, though the path to the cliffs was now clear.

"We've got an opening. Lee, you and Verden take point. Rowan and I will provide covering fire as we advance." Silva announced as he discarded his now cracked blades, replacing them with his revolver as the group began to sprint towards the cliffs.

* * *

Ruby and the others quickly found themselves on a path, flanked on either side by a series of dilapidated structures. while the Nevermore loomed overhead. The group spread out, hiding behind some of the pillars nearby as the avian Grimm landed on a tower in front of them. The tower, as well as the path back to the top of the cliffs, were located above a large gorge, meaning they'd have to get past the Nevermore to reach the top.

"Well, that's great." Yang said, annoyed. The group looked behind them as they heard the Deathstalker bursting through the forest, slowly catching up to them.

"Ah, man. Run!" Jaune ordered as the group emerged from their hiding places. Ren noticed the Nevermore ascend from it's temporary perch, preparing to launch another volley of feathers.

"Nora, distract it!" Ren called. The girl nodded and ran forward, avoiding several of the deadly feathers before pulling her weapon, a grenade launcher, off her back, sending a salvo of heart adorned grenades at the Nevermore, the pink explosions distracting the avian Grimm and allowing the group to proceed. The Deathstalker attempted to attack the girl while her back was turned, though Ren and Blake deterred it with a quick flurry of strikes, with Weiss pulling the girl away soon after. Pyrrha looked back as the scorpion Grimm was now chasing the two dark haired teens as the rest of group began to cross the large bridge above the gorge.

"Go, go!" She announced, shifting Miló into it's rifle form, slowing the Deathstalker with a quick burst of fire, allowing the two to get some distance from the creature. Pyrrha began to run again, reloading and stowing away her weapon as the Nevermore swooped back around, barreling through the bridge where they were running. Jaune got to his feet, hearing Ruby fire at the Nevermore while he looked over to the opposite side of the now collapsed bridge, seeing Blake, Ren and Pyrrha laying into the Deathstalker, though their attacks weren't piercing through its tough armored hide.

"Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!" Jaune said as Nora ran up beside him.

"Let's do this!" She said with determination. Jaune looked down at the misty gorge below.

"Yeah! But, uh… I can't make that jump." Jaune replied nervously. The orange haired girl donned a diabolical smile, laughing as she shoved the boy back a few paces, shifting her grenade launcher into a large war hammer. She jumped to the edge of the bridge and turned, slamming down her hammer and triggering an explosion that turned the section of bridge they'd been standing on into a catapult, launching Jaune over to Ren and the others. Nora quickly placed one foot on her hammer, using the explosion to propel herself alongside the airborne Jaune, using her momentum to fly right towards the Deathstalker. She brought her hammer down hard on it's head, though it quickly lashed out with its stinger. She fired her weapon to avoid the strike, though had to brace herself as the stinger quickly slammed into her hammer, knocking her back and into Blake, who was knocked off the bridge and into the gorge. Blake noticed the explosions colliding with the Nevermore above her and shifted her weapon into it's chain scythe form, tossing the weapon while pulling the trigger, embedding it into the tower above. She swung back up with the ribbon tied around the trigger, pulling her weapon back towards her and shifting it back to its sword form, striking the avian Grimm's armored mask as she began to run down its back, slicing at it with both her sword and her cleaver bladed sheath. She jumped off and landed on a part of the tower where Ruby, Weiss and Yang were standing, lining up next to them.

"It's tougher than it looks." Blake spoke. Yang readied her shot gauntlets, looking at the Nevermore as it began to circle back once again.

"Then let's hit it with everything we got." She announced. Ruby readied her scythe's rifle function, Blake shifted her weapon to pistol form, Weiss rotated her rapier's Dust chamber and Yang readied her gauntlets, the four unleashing a barrage of bullets and Dust projectiles at the avian Grimm, shrugging off the assault as it collided with the tower the four were standing on. The girls quickly ascended the falling rubble, landing on a few higher standing portions of the ruins. Weiss landed next to Ruby.

"None of this is working!" She determined. Ruby looked around, watching Blake swing herself to another platform with her ribbon while Yang was launching several blasts at the Nevermore flying above them. Slowly but surely the girl began to formulate a plan.

"I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby announced as she glided through the air with a burst of recoil from her weapon. Weiss preparing another salvo of strikes. Back with Jaune's group, the Deathstalker jabbed its stinger into the bridge, damaging it's structural integrity.

"We gotta move!" Jaune commanded, the four charging towards the scorpion Grimm. Pyrrha reached the Grimm first, blocking it's right pincer with her shield before striking the offending appendage. Jaune quickly met the other pincer with his shield, Pyrrha jumping above him to knock it back, allowing Ren a clear shot with his Stormflowers. The boy quickly fired a small series of burst, which the Grimm responded to with it's stinger. Ren latched onto the tail and fired several bursts into the joint connecting the stinger to the tail, damaging the Grimm's main weapon. The Deathstalker noticed Nora fire another grenade at it's face and shielded itself with its pincers, knocking Pyrrha and Jaune back, thought the red haired girl managed to fire her javelin at the Grimm, embedding her spear in one of its eyes. It flung Ren off of its stinger, Nora calling his name as the boy collided with a pillar. Jaune got to his feet and noticed the Deathstalker's stinger, dangling loosely by a few sinews of muscle.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune ordered. The girl realized her partner's plan.

"Done" The girl realized her partner's plan, throwing her shield to sever the remaining tissue holding the Grimm's stinger in place, gravity sending the stinger crashing it its head. The shield perfectly bounced off the pillar behind the Deathstalker, coming straight back to Pyrrha while making a barely discernible noise.

"Nora, nail it!" Jaune continued, planning to use the Grimm's weapon against it.

"Heads up!" Nora yelled as Pyrrha raised her shield over her head. Nora fires a grenade into the shield while Pyrrha leaped, the combined effort launching the pink clothed girl high into the air. The girl smiled as she fired another blast from her hammer to propel downwards, spinning to give herself as much power behind her strike as possible. She swung the hammer and connected directly with the stinger protruding from the Deathstalker's head, launching a debilitating blast that burrowed the stinger into the Grimm like a hammer driving a nail, destroying the part of the bridge the group had been on and propelling Jaune and Pyrrha into the air, the latter grabbing her javelin as the impact from Nora's hammer dislodged it. The girl tilted the hammer and fired again, propelling herself back onto solid ground as the Deathstalker descended into the misty gorge below. The three landed near the start of the destroyed bridge as Ren stumbled over, breathing hard before collapsing next to them. The other three got to their feet, looking across up to see Yang launch a flurry of fiery blasts from her gauntlets at the Nevermore, which circled around and dived straight for her. Instead of leaping away from the Grimm, Yang instead jumped towards its open mouth, holding it open with one arm while she began to fire several rounds down its exposed throat.

"I! Hope! You're! Hun-! -gry!" Yang punctuated each syllable with a blast before eventually jumping from the Nevermore's mouth, sending it crashing into the side of the cliff, dazed. It screeched at Yang, who ran towards Ruby and Blake while Weiss passed her, using her rapier to form a cluster of icicles that held the Nevermore's tail feathers in place, keeping it from flying away. The girl flipped back and used one of her glyphs to launch herself over back onto the bridge Yang had landed on. Meanwhile, Blake launcher her weapon over to Yang, who stretched the attached ribbon between a pair of pillars as Ruby maneuvered her scythe onto the ribbon, Weiss using a gravity glyph to hold Ruby in place, the four creating an impromptu slingshot.

"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss remarked, holding the girl in place.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Hmph! Can I!" Weiss said sarcastically. A second passed.

"Can you..." Ruby started

"Of course I can!" Weiss cut her off. Ruby looks forward and chambers a new round into her weapon. The glyph that had been hold Ruby turned red, launching the girl forward with enough force to crack the ground behind her, rose petals flying around as Ruby began to continuously fire rounds from her weapon to increase her speed, quickly hooked the Nevermore in the throat and slammed it into the wall just as it had freed its tail. As Ruby's feet touched the side of the cliff, Weiss created a series of speed glyphs going in a line up the cliff side. Ruby began to drag the avian Grimm up the cliff with her, yelling as she firing shot after shot from Crescent Rose as well as using Weiss' glyphs and her semblance to increase her speed. As she neared the top of the cliff, the Nevermore collided with a small outcropping of rock. Ruby fired her last shot, the force behind the girl's shot as well as the rock pinning the Nevermore in place, allowed the girl to brutally decapitate the large Grimm, a shower of rose petals created by her Aura erupting from the wound. The girl landed on the top of the cliff, her scythe resting over her shoulder as she crouched. The teens below looked on in awe as the headless Grimm descended into the gorge.

"Wow…" Jaune said, mirroring the thoughts of his team mates.

"Well, that was a thing." Yang said as Weiss and Blake stood next to her, looking up at Ruby, who was looking down at the group from the top of the cliff. After a bit of help from Weiss, the other teens arrived at the top of the cliff, seeing Ozpin, Ms. Goodwitch and a few of the other teams that had preceded them waiting. They heard gunfire and the crowd looked down, seeing Silva's group emerge from the tree line, several Beowolves on their heels. Verden and Lee continued forward while Silva and Rowan hung back, firing upon the group of Beowolves pursuing them. The two began running as one of the wolf Grimm prepared to tackle Silva. Silva fished a speed loader for his revolver out of one of his pockets and rose his weapon to eye level, feeding a bit of Aura into it as he opened the cylinder, the auto-ejector ejecting the spent shell casings violently from the gun, knocking the Grimm back as he reloaded his weapon. He quickly made his way back to Rowan, Lee and Verden, who were stopped by the broken bridge in front of them.

"Of course the bridge is out. What now?" Verden asked.

"I've got one. Keep me covered." Lee responded as his Aura flared up, bathing him a dark gray torrent of energy. Silva and Verden charged back to stall the Beowolves with Rowan sniping what Grimm he could. Lee rose his arms forward briefly, then forcefully planted them on the ground in front of him. The ground near where the bridge had been trembled, before a rough platform of earth began to jut out from the ground, creating a makeshift path for them to traverse the gorge thanks to his semblance. After several seconds, the rock bridge had connected to one of the structures near the cliff side.

"We're good to go!" Lee yelled, breathing heavily.

"Silva, back up and cover your ears!" Verden called, sheathing his right Tonfa. Silva backed up as Verden raised his now empty right hand before snapping his fingers at the pack of oncoming Grimm.

 _BANG_

A blinding white flash and a concussive wave erupted from his fingers, temporarily incapacitating several of the nearby Grimm.

"Nice. Now let's go. I think we've worn out our welcome." Silva joked as the four began to cross the stone bridge. The Grimm that hadn't been stunned by Verden's semblance quickly made their way onto the stone bridge, closing the gap between them and the teens.

"We won't make it in time!" Lee yelled. The designs on Silva's arms turned green as he stopped running.

"Rowan. How high can you launch me?" Silva asked.

"High enough. Why?"

"I have a plan. Verden, lay down covering fire." Silva said as he backed up a few paces, Rowan crouching down and cupping his hands, his Aura flaring momentarily. Silva channeled Aura to his legs and ran for Rowan, hopping to rest his foot on Rowan's hands, as the older boy propelled him into the air. He readied his hands, shaping the Dust into a spiraling javelin like construct. He forcefully tossed the spinning lance into the bridge, just in front of the Beowolves, the construct destabilizing as it shattered the portion of the rock bridge the Grimm were crossing, tossing debris and the Beowolves into the gorge as a small but powerful twister raged. Moments later the Dust twister disappeared, leaving the four in the clear. Silva landed in front of the others in his group, taking a moment to observe their surroundings.

"Well, we didn't become wolf chow. I'd say that's a plus." Verden quipped.

"There's just one problem. How do we get back up to the cliff?" Lee asked, still exhausted from using his semblance.

"I think I can handle that. Hold hands, gentlemen." Silva asked, holding his hands out to them. They reluctantly complied, and watched as the boy looked up towards the top of the cliff. The three noticed his eyes glow, and moments later felt a slight pull as well as a flash of light. After a brief second, the group found themselves at the top of the cliff, in front of Ozpin and the other students.

"Wow. Hey Silva, that's a nice trick you..." Verden started, stopping when he noticed the boy had collapsed to the ground.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine." Silva said wearily, holding his arm and thumb in the air briefly before it slammed into the ground. Lee and Rowan helped the exhausted boy to his feet and the group of students and adults began their trek to the school.

* * *

 _Beacon Amphitheater:_

In Beacon's assembly area, all of the students are crowded around. The first years on the main floor, while the other years were seated above in the stands. Two, large holographic screens were above the stage, hanging above Ozpin and four students.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by… Cardin Winchester!" Ozpin announced, the hall erupting into cheers and clapping. The four boys left the stage as Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora made their way up next.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)!" Ozpin continued. Nora laughed and gave her friend a hug. "Led by...Jaune Arc!" More cheers accompanied his declaration.

"Huh? L-Led by..." Jaune questioned.

"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said, allowing them to leave the stage. Next came Silva, Verden, Lee and Rowan.

"Silvanus Dresden. Verden Solomon. Liard Abraham. Rowan Bertulf. You four retrieved the Black Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team SLVR (Silver). Led by... Silvanus Dresden!" Ozpin spoke. Another round of cheers

"I didn't see that coming." Silva muttered. He noticed a frown appear on Lee's face. The four of them then left the stage.

"And finally; Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the White Knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby). Led by… Ruby Rose!" Ozpin declared. Weiss looked over at her partner in surprise, Ruby in shock at the announcement as Yang went over to her sister, bringing her into a hug.

"I'm so proud of you!" Yang praised.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an…interesting year." Ozpin commented amid the last round of cheers.

* * *

 _Night:_

In an abandoned warehouse, illuminated by the shattered moon. Roman Torchwick slammed down his scroll in irritation, sighing as he lit the cigar in his hand, taking a puff to calm his nerves. He flicked the lighter in his hands closed, turning to the man wearing a mask behind him that pulled up a large crate on a trolley.

"Open it." He commanded, passing the masked man a stack of Lien. The man produces a crowbar and does as instructed, revealing a large cache of Dust Crystals in varying colors. Roman reached into the crate and grabbed one of the crystals and looks it over.

"We're gonna need more men..." He trailed off. Behind the notorious criminal is a map of Vale, several sections marked in red marker, indicating locations or notes about the police presence in the area. Most notably was Beacon, marked and circled with a line pointed towards it.

* * *

 _Omake: Initiation Bloopers Part 2:_

 _Outtake 1: Karma_

"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!" Ruby commented,

"Well, congratulations on being the strongest child to sneak your way into Beacon. Bravo!" Weiss snapped, walking off into the bushes. Ruby began to follow, though not before slicing down a tree in frustration. The tree was quite tall, and began to topple over.

"I could have sworn I heard someone over here." Rowan said as he'd wandered around. He looked up and noticed a tree falling right for him.

"Of course." He said dryly as the tree fell on him. A distance away, Weiss suddenly felt the urge smirk for some reason.

 _Outtake 2: Silva and Co. are lost_

"I'm Silva. The temple should be close by. Let's go." The silver haired boy replied. After wandering for several minutes, they were still only surrounded by trees and bushes, still no temple in sight.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Verden asked.

"I'm positive. Just let me check my scroll." Silva pulled out the device, checking the map. He paled. It turned out that the map he was reading was for Forever Fall, not the Emerald Forest.

"Well, about that. It turns out my map was for Forever Fall. I hate to say it, but we're lost." Silva responded sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Isn't that just fantastic?!" Lee raged.

"It's not too bad. We should be able to find the temple if we keep looking." Rowan replied, trying to keep things positive. Lee marked a tree with his spear as the group made their way.

 _2 Hours Later:_

"You were saying, _Ryoga*_?" Verden remarked.

"It should be nearby. We just need to find the path." Silva replied. He noticed a tree with a mark and sweat dropped. Lee saw the same mark and trembled in anger.

"Are you telling me? That we just spend two hours. RUNNING AROUND IN CIRCLES!"

"Hey, look on the bright side, that means that we can go this way." Verden said, comically missing the point as they wandered down another path, just missing the temple that was just on the other side of a few trees.

 _Outtake 3: How about 'No'?_

Silva and Rowan made their way up the path they were on, coming across a cave with several carving next to it, illustrating several people fighting a large scorpion.

"Well, it's safe to say that the relics aren't inside. Just in case whatever inside decides to follow us…." Silva created a rough wall of ice in the cave entrance, figuring that whatever inside wouldn't be able to escape and pursue them. They weren't aware of Jaune and Pyrrha were already inside. When Pyrrha realized that the glowing object was actually connected to a Grimm, she quickly charged back towards the entrance to the cave. She saw the light coming from outside and continued forward when…

 _WHAM_

"Why me?" Pyrrha lamented as she heard the Deathstalker closing in.

 _Outtake 4: A Very Good Question, Indeed (Partially inspired by Ryuzak1katsuragi)_

At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" Glynda asked, though the man didn't answer her question. "Professor Ozpin?"

"Oh, the relics."

"Yes. The relics. What did you use this year?" Glynda asked.

"Um. About that…."

"Ozpin? You don't happen to know what happened to my vintage chess set, would you." Glynda asked with a smile. The headmaster paled.

"Well, you see..." Ozpin tried to explain. He looked down at his colleague's feet, seeing that she happened to be standing atop one of the launch plates. Ozpin looked down at his scroll and quickly pressed a button, launching the blonde Huntress into the forest.

"Ozpin, you bastard!" She yelled as she descended into the forest.

"That should buy me some time. I'd best make myself scarce." He muttered. Before he could get five steps away, he felt a presence behind him. A _dark_ presence."

"Oh Ozpin." The man paled as he heard Glynda call his name innocently.

"Mommy." He squeaked.

 _The Temple:_

"That wasn't too hard." Yang said.

"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find." Blake said. Before they could decide on their next course of action, a shrill, high-pitched scream echoed throughout the forest.

"Some girl is in trouble!"

 _Outtake 5: Miscalculated exit point_

"Well, we didn't become wolf chow. I'd say that's a plus." Verden quipped.

"There's just one problem. How do we get back up to the cliff?" Lee asked, still exhausted from using his semblance.

"Allow me. Hold hands, gentlemen." Silva asked, holding his hands out to them. They reluctantly complied, and watched as the boy looked up towards the top of the cliff. The three noticed his eyes glow, and moments later felt a slight pull as well as a flash of light. After a brief second they regained their sight. And found themselves several feet above Ozpin and the other students.

" _Oh crap."_ The four thought before they quickly plummeted to the ground. Silva managed to right himself and landed in a crouch. He turned around and saw his new friends face down on the ground.

"Whoops. Guess I miscalculated." Silva said, chuckling nervously.

End Outtakes

 _*Brownie points to those who get the reference._


	5. The Badge and The Burden

_Chapter 4: The Badge and the Burden_

 _Beacon:_

 _Beeeeeep_

 _Beeeeep_

Silva groaned as he turned off his alarm, his sentiment echoed by his teammates.

" _Teammates."_ Silva's thoughts echoed. He was still wondering why exactly Ozpin chose him. Then again, he was just as surprised at Ruby becoming the leader of her team.

" _I didn't see Ruby's performance during the initiation, though, so Ozpin must've seen something that convinced him to make that decision. I suppose the same must be true for me."_ Silva yawned as he grabbed his scroll, checking the time.

" _7:02, huh."_ "I'm gonna take a shower, guys. Take some time to unpack." Silva said before taking the uniform he'd been provided with the previous day with him into the bathroom connected to their dorm. The bathroom was relatively small, with a shower stall, a sink with a mirror above it and a toilet. Around fifteen minutes later Silva came out, clad in his uniform. He pressed his ear near the wall when he heard commotion coming from down the hall.

" _What the heck are people doing making this much noise this early in the morning?"_ Silva wondered before making his way over to his bed.

"What were you doing?" Verden asked, waiting for Lee to finish his shower.

"I heard noise coming from down the hall. I'm not sure who it was. I hope they realize class starts at nine." Silva took a look at what his teammates had been up to. He saw at the foot of Lee's bed was a guitar case and a portable keyboard on a stand. Verden had a small shelf above his bed, holding a few novels. Above Rowan's bed he saw an orange banner with a wolf head in the middle, similar to the one on his armor, and a Spruce Willis movie poster. On the bookcase under the window nearby was a small stack of comics, the latest issue of 'X-ray and Vav' among them. Silva grabbed one of his bags, pulling out a couple of novels, which he placed on the part of the bookcase near his bed. Next to them he placed a pair of silver headphones. And on the top, a small human skull with a light inside it. He brought two large black cases over to his bed, placing one under it while he sat the other next to him. He opened it up, revealing a large cache of sealed dust phials and dust crystals. Silva looked over the contents before snapping the case shut and placing it next to the other case under his bed. He grabbed his scroll and looked over something on it while the rest his teammates got ready for the day. Once Rowan exited the bathroom, the four decided to make their way to the dining hall to get some breakfast. As the four passed one of the dorm rooms, they heard more of the same commotion from earlier. Silva recognized it as the dorm team RWBY had been assigned.

" _They'd better not get too involved in whatever they're doing. Class is going to start up in just a little while."_ Silva thought as his team continued down the hall.

* * *

After eating, Silva checked their schedule, which showed 'Grimm Studies' with Professor Port as their class for the day. They walked into the indicated lecture hall, sitting in the second row from the bottom on the right side of the room. Silva checked the time, seeing that is was 8:55. He yawned and tapped his notebook with a pencil. Right before the bell rang, teams RWBY and JNPR burst into the room, clad in their uniforms, breathing heavily from what must have been a last second sprint to class. Everyone noticed Weiss glaring daggers at Ruby, no doubt annoyed by just barely arriving on time. The all huntress team sat in front of SLVR, while JNPR was up near the back on the opposite side. Silva observed the front of the room, noticing the various white boards with detailed sketches of various Grimm along with notes about each one. Above the boards was a hybrid of a blunderbuss and an axe, and to the left of the desk in front of the boards was a pedestal, a bust of a man with a bushy mustache resting atop it. Several heads of various Grimm were located around the room, though everyone knew that they were only fakes, since Grimm dissipate into nothing when they die. The teacher walked into the room just as the bell rang, looking over the class before moving to stand in front of his desk. The slightly portly man appeared to be in his late forties at the very least, and his hair and mustache, identical to the bust behind the man, were a light gray color. The man was clad in a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold accents, and wore olive toned jackboots that stopped just below his knees. After introducing himself as 'Professor Port', he began his lecture.

"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" The professor boasted. Silva resisted chuckling at Port's exuberant comment about the Grimm. Silva noticed some of the students bored expressions, Verden and Rowan included. He looked in front of him, seeing Ruby trying, and failing, at paying attention to the man.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" He recovered when no one reacted to his initial speech. He continued on, pacing back and forth as he spoke.

Now, as I was saying; Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." Port added with a wink at Yang, who groaned uncomfortably. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" One of the students in the third row from the right chanted. Everyone in the room looked at them for a moment, before the student sat down, embarrassed by his outburst.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." Port began to detail an experience from his youth. Silva noticed several of the students tuning out the man's rambling. He looked down at Team RWBY. Yang and Blake seemed to be paying attention and Weiss looked to be taking notes, but it was what Ruby was doing that made Silva bite back a laugh. From what he could see, she was drawing a badly drawn, exaggerated picture of the professor, labeling it 'Professor Poop'.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..." Silva heard. The silver haired boy continued listening to the man's speech when something occurred to him. With a Cheshire grin, Silva opened his notebook and began to draw something. When he finished, he quietly tore the page from his notebook, nudging Verden, who was next to him, to look. The brunette bit down on his finger to stop from laughing as Silva folded the picture into fourths. He saw Ruby show her 'masterpiece' to her teammates. Blake and Yang laughed, though Weiss was less than impressed.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Port vocalized, gaining everyone's attention. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" The man finished with a bow. Silva chose this moment to discreetly toss the folded paper he'd torn from his notebook onto the table next to Ruby. She quickly grabbed it and unfolded it. Silva saw her shake with barely contained laughter as she looked at the paper Silva tossed her. It showed a very rough sketch of the professor performing a bodybuilder pose, and the pictured was captioned 'This mustache has been passed down the Port line for generations!' Weiss quickly glared at me but said nothing, though I could tell the picture compounded her irritation. Ruby continued to goof around as the professor continued on, angering Weiss further and further.

"….So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Port asked. Sensing a chance to take her mind off of Ruby's childish behavior, the white haired girl immediately rose her hand.

"I do, Sir!"

"Well then, let's find out." Port spoke. He gave Weiss a few minutes to change into her combat attire and retrieve her weapon. The girl was now at the front of the class, and Port was now holding the axe/musket hybrid that had been mounted on the wall, standing next to a sturdy, iron cage with an unknown Grimm inside.

"Step forward, and face your opponent!" Port said, Weiss readying Myrtenaster.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang cheered.

"Fight well!" Blake added, waving a small flag with their team name on it. Several of the students were confused as to where she'd gotten it.

"Yeah! Represent teeeeam RWBY!" Ruby chimed in. Weiss lowered her rapier and looked at her leader.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" She scolded.

"Oh, um...Sorry..." Ruby replied sheepishly.

" _That's a little harsh, Weiss."_ Silva admitted, even though he hadn't helped the situation much.

"Alright! Let the match...begin!" Port announced, using his weapon to bust the lock off of the cage. The door fell forward, revealing the quadrupedal Grimm inside, which happened to be a Boarbatusk. The Grimm roared and reared it tusks forward, summarily charging towards the heiress. Weiss struck the Boarbatusk's mask with a swing of her weapon, though it bounced off it's armored hide as she moved to the left, the Grimm charging past before quickly turning to face the individual that attempted to slay it.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" The professor commented.

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby encouraged. Weiss pointed her blade at the boar Grimm, darting forward to impale her weapon through the Boarbatusk's head. The Grimm anticipated her strategy, however, catching her blade in between its tusks.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port said as the girl struggled to free her weapon from the creature's tusks.

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby added. The white haired girl directed her attention at Ruby, which turned out to be a mistake on her part. The Boarbatusk sharply jerked its head to the side, pulling Myrtenaster from Weiss' grip as the weapon bounces away from her, leaving the girl unarmed.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" The professor spoke, wondering how his student would tackle this problem. The Boarbatusk charged towards the girl, who rolled to avoid it as the Boar Grimm collided with one of the tables. Weiss used the distraction to retrieve her weapon.

"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath!" Ruby announced.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss shot back, Ruby looking hurt by the girl's rebuttal. Several students, including Silva, were astonished by the girl's remarks.

" _Geez, she's just offering some advice."_ Silva thought. The Boarbatusk leaped into the air, curling into a ball before beginning to spin rapidly, gaining speed as it surged forward towards the girl. Before it can connect, Weiss deployed one of her glyphs in front of her like a shield, the Grimm slamming into the projection and collapsing to the ground, leaving its weak point exposed. Weiss jumped into the air and formed a second glyph that she used to launch herself right at the Boarbatusk, skewering it through the neck and into its brain, killing the creature.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Weiss made her way back to her seat after sheathing her weapon, glaring darkly at her leader.

"We have time for one more demonstration. Any volunteers?" Port asked. Silva immediately raised his hand.

"Silvanus! Perfect." Port replied. After a couple minutes Silva returned with his gear. He drew his revolver, though walked over to the desk team RWBY was at and placed it in between Weiss and Ruby. The professor raised an eyebrow at the action but said nothing.

"Face your opponent!" Port announced as the designs on Silva's jacket glowed blue. Port dragged out another cage, larger than the first.

"Let the match, begin!" The professor broke the lock off of the cage, and like the first cage the door collided noisily with the floor. This time, the Grimm inside was a Beowolf, around the same size as the ones normally found in the Emerald Forest. This particular Beowolf had a bit more armor plating than most. Silva brought his right arm back while holding his left forward, both hands shaping Ice dust. The resulting creations were a small hexagonal shield in his left hand, and a crystalline sword in his right. The shield, which Silva held parallel to his fist, was similar to a buckler in size and design, while the sword was a double edged arming sword that bore a minute resemblance to Jaune's blade, though the hand guard was more ornate in design. The Beowolf snarled and slowly closed in on the boy.

"You got this, Silva!" Verden cheered. Silva nodded as he faced the looming Beowolf, the Grimm waiting for the moment to attack. After several moments the Beowolf rose one of its claws, bringing it down to strike Silva. The boy flicked his left wrist slightly, rotating the orientation of his shield so it was now parallel to his arm, before deflecting the Beowolf's strike. Silva quickly followed up with a cleaving strike that left a gash on its chest. Despite the wound the lupine Grimm continued, following up with its other hand, which Silva jumped back to avoid. The boy began to move from side to side, his arms slightly rocking in a defensive manner in front of him while his feet moved in a triangular pattern.

"Interesting technique." Port commented. Several of the observers were confused as to the exact purpose of his movements. The Beowolf, undeterred by its prey's change in tactics, charged and pivoted its body, swinging the outside of its arm, which was covered with several sharp protrusions, towards the boy. Silva brought his shield up in an uppercut motion, knocking its arm upwards while the boy delivered a slash to its unprotected stomach. The Ice weapon left a sizable wound, but the Beowolf was still going strong. It got down on all fours and charged forward. Silva watched the Beowolf close in.

" _Now!"_ As the Beowolf prepared to bite him, Silva jumped and torqued his body, performing a spinning side flip over the charging Grimm. Silva landed and spun around, keeping his sword ready as the creature spun around. The Beowolf charged again and readied another swing of its claws. Silva shifted to the side slightly and rose his shield above his head, the Beowolf's claw sliding across it as Silva spun in a counter clockwise motion, driving his Ice sword into the Grimm's now unprotected torso. Silva twisted the blade and forcefully tore the weapon out through its right side, the Grimm falling to the floor as it expired.

"Outstanding! Fine work, young man!" Port praised. Silva nodded and dispersed his weapons with fire dust, retrieving his revolver before making his way back to his seat.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and...stay vigilant! Class dismissed!" Port finished, putting away the now empty cages.

* * *

Weiss sharply rose from her seat, glaring at Ruby as she left the room. Jaune noticed her as she left.

"Sheesh, What's up with her?" He commented as Ruby ran after her teammate.

"Weiss!"

"What?!"

"What's wrong with you? Why are you being..." Ruby started.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? You're supposed to be a leader, and all you've been so far is a nuisance!" Weiss interrupted with a scathing reply.

"What did I do?" Ruby asked.

"That's just it; you've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!"

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team."

"Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." Ruby tried to say something when Weiss continued. "Ozpin made a mistake." The frigid girl added, walking off. Silva, having overheard a good portion of the conversation came around the corner after the girl had walked off.

"Ruby, you okay?" He asked. The girl turned, a doubtful look on her face.

"Oh, Silva. Do you think, Ozpin made a mistake when he made me leader of my team?" She asked after a moment. Silva leaned against the wall.

"It's only been one day, so there's no way to tell. To be honest, though, I really don't know. I'm still attempting to figure out the same thing myself."

"Really?" Ruby seemed a bit surprised. Silva nodded.

"Regardless, all I know is that Ozpin chose us to be the leaders of our respective teams for a reason. That being said, I suppose all we can do is live up to the expectations he has for us. We need to do our very best. Though that does mean no more goofing off in class." Silva said. Ruby tried to say something but he silenced her. "That's directed at both of us." She giggled at this.

"Thanks Silva. I'll see you later!" Ruby said as she ran off, a smile on her face. Silva waved her off as a voice sounded behind him.

"That was a very mature thing you did there, Silvanus." Silva turned around and saw Ozpin, cane and coffee cup in hand.

"Ozpin? I guess you heard all that, huh?" The boy replied sheepishly, absently rubbing the back of his head. The headmasters answered with a nod.

"As I've told many over the years, I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. I do not believe your appointment to leader, or Ruby's, to be among them."

"Thank you, sir." Silva replied as he walked off, not catching the small smile on the headmaster's face. Later that evening, Weiss was making her way back to her team's dorm, mulling over the conversation she'd had with Professor Port.

 _Flashback:_

 _After walking away from Ruby, Weiss made her way onto the balcony nearby, seeing the professor looking out at the horizon._

" _Professor Port!"_

" _Ah, Miss Schnee! And to what do I owe this fine pleasure." Port asked as he turned to face the girl._

" _I... I enjoyed your lecture!"_

" _Of course you did, child; you have the blood of a true Huntress in you." Port commended._

" _You really think so?" Weiss smiled._

" _Most surely!" Port agreed, though he noticed her smile shift to a mild frown. "Hmm... Something's troubling you."_

" _Yes, sir..." Weiss replied reluctantly._

" _Dear girl, confess to me your strife!"_

" _Well... I-I think I should have been the leader of team RWBY!" Port stood silent for a moment to register the girl's words_

" _That's preposterous!" He exclaimed._

" _Excuse me?!" Weiss asked, mildly insulted._

" _I've believed in Professor Ozpin for many years, and the man's never once led me astray!"_

" _So you would just blindly accept his decision even after seeing how exceptional I am?" Weiss questioned._

" _With all due respect, your exceptional skill on the battlefield is matched only by your poor attitude." Port admitted. Weiss' anger seethed._

" _How dare you!"_

" _My point exactly. I see a girl before me who has spent her entire life getting exactly what she wanted."_

" _That's not even remotely true!" Weiss rebutted, though the gaze Port was giving her reluctantly forced her to relent. "Well... not entirely true."_

" _So the outcome did not fall in your favor. Do you really believe that acting in such a manner would cause those in power to reconsider their decision?" Port asked, Weiss looking a bit guilty after thinking about her behavior. "So instead of fretting about what you don't have, savor what you do. Hone your skills, perfect every technique, and be not the best leader, but the best person you can be." Port suggested. Weiss smiled at the man's words as the professor walked off._

 _End Flashback_

Weiss arrived at the dorm and unlocked the door, seeing the room mostly shrouded in darkness. Yang and Blake were already asleep, though Weiss noticed a lamp on near Ruby's bed. She moved the makeshift veil to see the girl in her pajamas, asleep and surrounded by various text books and papers from the day's lessons, a pencil clutched in her hand. Weiss was amazed at the girl's determination, and decided to gently shake her, waking her from her slumber.

"Weiss! I-I was studying, and then I fell asleep! I'm sorry..." Ruby flailed about in surprise until she silenced Ruby, reminding her that the others were still asleep. Weiss looked to the girl's pillow, spotting an empty Beacon coffee mug.

"How do you take your coffee?" She asked.

"I...I don't..."

"Answer the question!" Weiss raised her voice slightly.

"Uh, cream and five sugars." Weiss sighed slightly.

"Don't move." Weiss made her way over to the coffee maker she'd set up on one of the desks, a short time later coming back with a steaming mug of coffee.

"Um...Thanks, Weiss." Ruby spoke.

"Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Weiss said, looking apologetic. Ruby smiled a bit in appreciation. "Just know that _I_ am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have."

"Good luck studying." Weiss continued before going down towards the floor. She popped up again for a moment. "That's wrong by the way." She added.

"Hey, Ruby." Ruby leaned over the edge of her bed, seeing Weiss standing in the doorway. "I always wanted bunk beds as a kid." She admitted with a small smile before closing the door. Ruby smiled before getting back to her notes.

"Bunk beds, huh?" Weiss jumped in surprise, seeing Silva standing in the hallway, clad in his sleeping clothes and holding a half eaten apple.

"You were eavesdropping?" Weiss asked, angry.

"Guilty." He admitted, a passive expression on his face.

"You are despicable, you know that?" Weiss huffed.

"I suppose." Silva smirked.

"So, what do you want?"

"Two things. First, I wanted to apologize. I did contribute to your irritation in class today. And the second, I just wanted to say it's nice to see to you again." Silva spoke.

"That's funny, you sure didn't act like it the last time I saw you." Weiss scoffed.

"Things were different then. The circumstances then weren't all that helpful either." Weiss grinned.

"You did look good in a..."

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Silva cut her off, a scowl on his face..

"Apology accepted. It's nice to see you again, too." Weiss spoke, changing the subject.

"Thank you. You should get some sleep."

"What about you?"

"What do you think I was on my way to do before I overheard you and Ruby?" Silva spoke with a laugh as he made his way towards his room while Weiss went to stow Myrtenaster in her locker.

* * *

 _Omake: Peter Port is an Armstrong (Inspired from a picture by ZeroSenPie of Deviantart)_

The teacher walked into the room just as the bell rang, looking over the class before moving to stand in front of his desk. The slightly portly man appeared to be in his late forties at the very least, and his hair and mustache, identical to the bust behind the man, were a light gray color. The man was clad in a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold accents, and wore olive toned jackboots that stopped just below his knees.

"Good morning, Class, and Welcome to Grimm Studies. I am your teacher, the mighty Peter Port!

Before we begin the lesson, I first have a story for you. A tale of a young, handsome man...Me! A massive Beowolf had terrorized the village I had grown up in, and as the most able bodied person in the village, it was up to me to tackle the fierce beast! During one of its forays into the village, I began my pursuit of the creature, spending countless days hunting after the beast. Eventually, I cornered the beast in a clearing many a mile from my home. The battle waged was one for the ages, neither the beast nor myself paused for a moment during the entire encounter! Near the end, I was down to my fist, my weapon having been destroyed during one of the Beowolf's mighty strikes. Unarmed, one would assume that I was at a disadvantage! But I had one thing the monster did not." Everyone looked to the professor, waiting for his story to continue. They saw Port appearing to attempt to reach for something in his suit jacket. Instead, the professor quickly unbuttoned his jacket and let it fall to the floor, revealing a heavily muscled physique and, to the students horror, a hairy chest shaved into the shape of a heart. "THE STRENGTH PASSED DOWN THE PORT LINE FOR GENERATIONS!" The man boasted, performing a bodybuilder pose as sparkles surrounded the man. The students reactions were as follows.

Ruby appeared mildly disgusted

Weiss' eyes widened dramatically

Blake's eyes shrank and a look of abject horror was on her face.

Yang felt like she wanted to puke

Jaune's eyes blinked uncontrollably as he tried to process the scene in front of him, his mouth slightly open.

Nora was silent, her face vaguely frozen in shock

Pyrrha face desked at the sight

Ren trembled, disturbed by the sight in front of him more than any act perpetuated by Nora

Rowan appeared fine, though internally he was screaming.

Lee was externally screaming.

Verden shielded his eyes from the bright light that seemed to be coming from the professor, while internally contemplating stabbing his eyes out with his pencil.

And Silva….

"Silva, are you okay?" Verden asked. He turned to his leader, seeing a completely blank expression on his face. He nudged the silver haired boy's arm, and froze when the boy fell to the floor, stiff as a statue.

"In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" Port finished, donning his suit jacket again while remaining blissfully unaware of the psychologically scarring event he'd just subjected his students to. In Ozpin's office, the man had just finished checking the feed in Port's classroom.

"Glynda, that bottle that James sent me awhile back, could you bring that here? My coffee isn't quite strong enough today." Ozpin requested. Glynda looked at the camera feed that had her colleague on edge for merely a moment before running off to retrieve the requested item, coming back with said item as well as setting down a mug of her own.


	6. Combat Training

_Before the chapter starts, I'd like to apologize for the excruciatingly long wait. I've recently gotten very busy and it severely cut into my writing time, especially since I often write in the evenings. To partially make up for this, however, I've managed enough time to write out both this and the next chapter, and at the time you are reading this, both will be available. I thank any who are reading this for your patience._

 _Chapter 5: Combat Training_

The next morning, Team SLVR was in the dining hall, enjoying a hearty breakfast. Teams RWBY and JNPR wandered in a bit later, sitting down at the same table with SLVR, everyone clad in their normal attire.

"Morning, everyone." Silva said.

"Morning."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm pumped for combat class today." Verden said, finishing off a piece of toast.

"Seconded. Right now though, I'm gonna get back to my waffles." Silva added, happily digging into his meal.

"So, who are you looking forward to fighting?" Yang asked.

"Me? Anyone really. Whether its my teammates, one of you or someone else, all I ask is for a good fight."

"I'm actually looking forward to fighting you." Verden answered, pointing to Pyrrha.

"Me?" Pyrrha asked.

"My younger brother practically worships you, and fighting against you is a good way to get under his skin." Verden explained. Yang chuckled.

"I wouldn't mind fighting you, you seem rather strong." Pyrrha replied. Jaune looked slightly nervous as he finished his pancakes, and the group looked at the time.

"Class will be starting soon, we'd better get going." Ruby announced, the group turning their trays in before making their way to the amphitheater.

* * *

"Good morning students, and welcome to Combat Tactics and Application. During these lessons, you will learn how to fight as a team, while also testing your skills with or against your fellow students. These matches will also be used to help determine whether you are ready for the Vytal Tournament later this year. Today we will be holding several one on one bouts to get an idea of everyone's individual skill. Any volunteers?" Ms. Goodwitch asked. Verden raised his hand and looked over to Pyrrha, who raised her hand a moment later. Goodwitch nodded and the two walked onto the stage, the lighting adjusting itself to focus solely on the combatants. Pyrrha readied Miló, in sword form, and Akoúo̱ while Verden drew his tonfa, lazily swinging the left one in front of him side to side while the other lay flush to the underside of his arm. He adjusted his hat slightly and stood ready.

"Alright. The match will be declared over if your Aura drops into the red, or if you forfeit. Now, Pyrrha Nikos vs Verden Solomon. Begin!" Pyrrha immediately shot forward, thrusting out with Miló. Verden spun his left tonfa, batting away the xiphos with the back end of the weapon before spinning the front towards Pyrrha. Verden pressed the button at the top of the handle, the firing mechanism for his tonfa, and fired two bullets at the girl. Pyrrha deflected the rounds with her shield and attempted to shield bash the boy, who blocked the blow with both his tonfa. He moved his right weapon and spun it around the shield's edge, forcing Pyrrha to disengage. She quickly shifted her weapon to its rifle form, firing three rounds at Verden. The boy rolled to avoid the shots and responded with a barrage of his own. Pyrrha blocked the rounds and quickly shifted her weapon to javelin form, using the weapon's superior range to her advantage. She swiped twice before stabbing forward with a boost from her weapon's firing mechanism. Verden jumped back and rose his right tonfa to block the overhead strike from the Mistrali girl, swinging his left towards her knee.

She blocked with her knee pad then went on the defensive, dodging the swinging strikes from Verden's weapons. Pyrrha struck out with yet another stab, her weapon back in xiphos form, while Verden was in mid spin. He set his weapon flush with his arm and fired while his elbow was facing the girl, using the recoil to propel his elbow towards her torso. Pyrrha flipped back to avoid the blow, then rolled to dodge Verden's follow up shots from his weapons. Verden's thumb tapped a button on the side of the handle, ejecting both horizontal magazines from the weapon. He artfully spun both weapons before inserting the rear portions of each tonfa in the upper part of his sheathes, pulling them out a second later with fresh magazines. He then initiated another push towards Pyrrha, even managing to disarm her of Miló momentarily. Pyrrha effortlessly retrieved the weapon and the two exchanged a series of strikes, one managing to knock Verden's left tonfa into the air. Verden blocked a few swipes from Pyrrha's weapon and caught his airborne tonfa at the bottom, using the weapon like a hook to direct her blade outwards. He swung his right arm towards her, extending the weapon's blade mid swing. Pyrrha managed to block the blow, though Verden chose that moment to snake his left leg in between her feet, using his heel to send her backwards. Pyrrha fell back, though managed to plant her left hand on the ground and maneuvered into a flip, landing on her feet.

"Not bad, Pyrrha." Verden said, retracting his weapon's blade. "Let's continue, shall we?" He added with a twirl of his tonfa.

"Sure." She smirked and shot forward, Miló in javelin form, and slammed her shield into the boy, who blocked with his tonfa. She swiped her weapon at his feet, though the boy jumped the strike and pushed his feet into her shield, pushing her back a couple feet as he landed on his back. He twirled his legs and got to his feet, ducking under Pyrrha's thrown shield, which bounced off the wall and back to her hand. Just as she caught the shield she rose it to block the jumping strike from Verden's right tonfa, shifting her head back as the other tonfa spun upwards towards her chin to avoid it. He extended his left tonfa blade and forced her back, extending his other tonfa blade before exchanging another flurry of strikes with the red haired warrior. He fell back after a few moments and retracted his tonfa blades, shifting his stance to the left and slowly making his way towards Pyrrha, quickly twirling his tonfa as he advanced.

"Keep your eye on the birdie." Verden taunted, Pyrrha watching him closely. He suddenly tossed his right tonfa into the air. Pyrrha shifted focus to the airborne weapon, and cursed under her breath when he looked back to Verden, his empty hand raised towards her as she heard a snapping noise.

 _BANG_

The Mistrali girl managed to block the blinding light with her shield, though was still mildly disoriented by the concussive force behind the boy's semblance. Seeing his chance, Verden grabbed his airborne weapon as he ran forward, his arm primed in a punching motion and he fired his weapon. Pyrrha, subtly using her semblance, managed to alter the weapon's course slightly, just enough to miss, and managed to catch the boy with her shield. Verden rolled several times before getting to his feet, though barely shifted his head to miss a lightning fast strike from Miló's blade. He spun one of his tonfa around her right arm to hold her in place and managed to block her shield with the other, leaving each others arms locked together. Pyrrha moved her shield just enough and delivered a devastating knee to his chest, though received a blow to her shoulder from his tonfa as they separated. Verden wheezed as Pyrrha moved in, hitting him with a multitude of strikes from her xiphos and shield. Verden jumped back, breathing heavily. The aura meters projected above them showed his Aura in the low yellow, while Pyrrha's was in the higher yellow. Verden charged towards Pyrrha, firing several rounds from his tonfa before drawing his right hand back, preparing for a heavy blow with his weapon. Pyrrha brought Miló forward at the same time in an overhead slash. Her weapon's reach beat out Verden's, though the boy's weapon still struck her arm above her shield, though the blow was stealthily lessened by her semblance. Verden flew backwards, his Aura in the red while Pyrrha's was at mid yellow. A buzzer sounded as the lights returned to normal, indicating the match was over.

"That's enough. Mr. Solomon's Aura has dropped into the red, which means the match is over." Ms. Goodwitch announced as Pyrrha helped the boy to his feet. The two shook hands and left the stage, Verden hobbling over to his team.

"I see why my brother's obsessed with her. She's pretty good." Verden said, nursing his side.

"Don't worry, my friend. Despite the loss, you put up a great fight." Rowan said, cheering up his teammate a bit.

"I haven't had a decent fight in awhile. Thank you." Pyrrha said.

"No hard feeling about deafening you there?" Verden asked. Pyrrha shook her head. "Good. Ow." Verden said as a jolt of pain shot up his side.

"Now, who would like to go next?" Ms. Goodwitch asked. When no one volunteered she tapped her scroll a few times. After a few seconds the holo-screens above them changed.

"Would Liard Abraham and Sky Lark please take the stage." She requested. The two did as instructed. Lee extended his cross spear while Sky hefted his halberd.

"Begin!" The blue haired, armored boy quickly went on the offensive, swinging his halberd with more speed than one would expect. Lee dodged the first few swings before raising his own weapon to block. Sky broke away and Lee decided to make his move. He spun his weapon and thrust it forward, the force behind the attack sending Sky skidding back a couple feel when he rose his halberd to block. Lee immediately followed with a flurry of slashes with his weapon, striking with both the spear blade and the pointed edge of the weapon's shaft. Sky avoided the worst of the barrage, only receiving a few glancing blows that his armor mostly absorbed. Sky twisted his weapon so the smaller point was facing forward and swung, hoping to catch Lee unaware. The gray haired boy ducked the swing and thrust his weapon to Sky's right, using one of the horizontal bars of the cross to pull the boy's foot out from under him, knocking him off his feet. Sky rolled to dodge one of Lee's strikes and got to his feet, spinning his halberd around to force the boy to back off.

Lee spun his body around as he closed in on his opponent, using his force to added extra power to his strike. Sky swung his halberd to meet the spear, the two colliding with a loud 'clang'. Sky's weapon, since it was heavier, knocked back Lee's spear and sent his arm backwards, leaving his guard open. Sky attempted to take advantage of this, though was unprepared for the blade Lee pulled from his spear. Lee locked his blade with Sky as he stomped his foot on the ground, a second later a column of stone emerged from the arena where his weapon had landed, launching it back to his possession. Lee delivered a hard stab that collided with Sky's chest, sending him sprawling as he sheathed his blade back into the spear. He delivered a few more punishing strikes before stabbing his spear into the ground near Sky's head, the point of one of the horizontal bars hanging above his throat.

"I forfeit!" Sky called. Lee pulled his spear away and retracted it as the lights returned to normal.

"Good work Mr. Abraham." Ms. Goodwitch commented as she used her Dust Crop to repair the area where Lee had used his semblance. Over the next couple of hours several more matches ensued. Blake VS Nora, which the hyper girl won with her sheer strength and surprising skill with her weapon. Jaune VS Weiss, which ended after only a short time due to Weiss' superior skill. Ruby and Yang emerging victorious against a couple other first year students, and several other bouts.

"We have time for one more match today. Silvanus Dresden VS Cardin Winchester." Ms Goodwitch spoke as she tapped her scroll, the Aura meters for both appearing on the screens above. Silva looked at his opponent, frowning at the arrogant smirk on Cardin's face.

" _So, he thinks he has an easy win, huh? Bring it on."_ Silva cracked his neck and stood ready, Cardin standing opposite him with his weapon, a large flanged mace with a red jewel at the top, resting on his shoulder.

"Begin!" Silva's Dust projector clicked and the lines on his jacket glowed orange as Cardin began to move towards him. Before the mace wielding boy could close in, Silva formed a trio of knives in in hand and tossed one at his opponent. Cardin rose his mace to deflect the projectile, but the moment it made contact the knife exploded. The blast was small but it forced Cardin to dodge the following knife. The armored boy got to his feet after diving away from the third exploding knife and turned to Silva, who was just finishing up forming a Falchion in his hand with Fire Dust, the air around the weapon distorting slightly due to the heat the Dust weapon was emitting. Silva rose the point of the weapon to Cardin, waving it towards him in a taunting gesture before he started to move from side to side, his feet moving in a triangular pattern as his arms moved in front of his face. A pattern that was very familiar to Ruby and some of the others in the audience.

"He's moving just like yesterday against that Beowolf." Ruby commented.

"It's his footwork. At first glance it almost looks like a rhythmic dance step, but it actually is his ready position. The style is familiar but the name is eluding me." Ren explained. Cardin readied his mace and swung horizontally towards Silva, who ducked under the blow. Cardin quickly adjusted his weapon and swung again, striking the ground and causing a small explosion that knocked Silva back. Silva righted himself in mid air and spun to land on his right foot, turning to face Cardin, who quickly charged after him again. Silva rose his arm to attempt a swing, which Cardin was ready to meet with his mace. To the older boy's surprise, Silva spun to the left and dropped to the ground, avoiding Cardin's swing. In the position Silva landed in, he placed his right hand down on the ground for leverage and brought his left leg up in a kick that collided with Cardin's jaw. Cardin stumbled back momentarily before regaining his bearings, seeing Silva back in his dynamic stance. The orange haired boy charged and spun, adding extra force to his swing. Silva dropped backwards, catching himself in a crab walk position before kicking his foot out, catching Cardin in the chest, which due to the boy's momentum sent him stumbling. Silva's kick provided enough momentum to bring him to his feet as Cardin closed in again, though he cartwheeled to the right to avoid his strike.

"Stay still, you pest!" Cardin fumed as Silva dodged another swing. The silver haired boy moved in on Cardin and lashed out with a reverse roundhouse kick. Cardin easily dodged but the kick was actually a feint, and left him open to a slash from Silva's weapon. Cardin swung his mace one handed and quickly followed with a hard punch, though was too slow to hit the smaller boy. Cardin gripped his mace and swung again, using his momentum to spin around and quickly bring the weapon to the ground, creating another explosion. Silva dived and landed on his stomach while Cardin moved in. Silva kicked out his left foot to hit the older boy in the gut, but Cardin easily caught the foot. Cardin smirked and prepared to throw the boy when Silva brought his other foot up, kicking Cardin in the stomach while his hands were occupied with his other foot. Cardin gasped and swung at Silva as he was getting to his feet, but the boy spun under the swing and hooked his leg under Cardin, forcefully pulling his foot out from under him. Cardin quickly got to his feet but was too slow to avoid Silva's strike with his Dust blade. Silva delivered a flurry of strikes, almost dancing around his opponent as he attacked. Cardin forced him to back off with a wild swing and he returned to his ready position. He saw the look of anger on the orange haired teen's face and smirked.

"Come on, Cardin. Is this all you got?" Silva mocked, chuckling as he darted from side to side. Cardin stepped forward and brought his mace out for a powerful horizontal strike. Silva started to do what looked like a handstand as Cardin got close, though his actual plan was the leg that connected sharply with Cardin's chest. The burly teen stumbled back a few paces, stopping just as Silva's blade, which the boy had thrown at Cardin, impaled into the ground in front of him, knocking him back as it exploded. Cardin landed on his back and attempted to rise, and was summarily knocked back to the ground. He looked up, seeing the silver haired boy pinning him to the ground and a steaming, red Katar leveled at his face, a flare of light flickering away where the boy had been standing moments earlier. Ms. Goodwitch chose this moment to end the match, as Cardin's Aura was in the red. Silva's own Aura was in the low yellow, and the boy was now showing a bit of fatigue. He stepped off the stage, brushing some his hair out of his face as his Dust projector retrieved the Dust still in the jacket's channels.

"It was you!" Weiss stomped up to him, poking a finger into his chest.

"Huh?"

" _You_ were the one who hit me with that pillow." She accused, referring to their first night at Beacon.

"Hey, I only did that because you and Yang were causing a scene and I wasn't going to get any sleep with you two arguing all night." Silva retorted. Weiss huffed and turned away. Silva sighed and wiped his forehead.

"Not bad, Silva." Verden spoke.

"That jacket of yours is really useful." Blake added.

"You know it." Silva smiled

"That concludes the class for today. Next class we'll be going over team combat tactics. Class dismissed." As she finished speaking everyone made their way to the locker room to stow away their weapons.

* * *

 _Following Day:_

The following day went by without incident. After a class with Professor Peach, an eccentric woman with orange hair that taught 'Wilderness Survival', The first year students made their way into another of Beacon's lecture halls, where Professor Goodwitch was waiting for them. The lesson was focused primarily on team tactics. The woman showed several illustrations detailing various combat scenarios they would be likely to encounter as a Huntsman/Huntress. The lesson went by rather quickly, Goodwitch ending off by assigning the leader of each team an assignment to develop some team combat strategies, which would be due early next week. Team SLVR returned to their dorm around two in the afternoon, Silva moving over to one of the small desks in the room to begin his assignment. Silva's teammates did their own thing for a bit while Silva racked his brain for ideas.

" _Ugh, of course Goodwitch assigns something like_ this _."_ Silva lamented. _"The only tactics I devised for us were the ones we used in initiation, and even then everyone was just doing their own thing."_ Silva groaned and rested his head on the desk in frustration. Suddenly the boy got an idea.

"Guys. Grab your weapons and meet me outside." Silva ordered before stepping out the door. Silva waited near the Beacon Academy Statue, illustrating a man with a sword and a woman with an axe standing on a small cliff over a Beowolf. Around ten minutes later Lee and the others stepped outside, everyone clad in their combat attire. Silva led his team outside to the forest behind the academy, near where the Beacon cliffs were located.

"Alright, we have our weapons. What the hell are we doing out here?" Lee asked.

"Well, as you are aware, Goodwitch gave me an assignment to develop some team tactics. I figure that the easiest way to do that is to learn a bit about how we fight. From there we can devise some strategies to utilize with dealing with any adversaries we might face." Silva explained.

"Wouldn't you have gotten an idea of how we fight both from the Initiation as well as the Combat Class we had a couple days ago?" Lee wondered.

"Yes, but the fights in class were only one on one fights. _This_ will be a free-for-all." Silva continued, forming an Ice dagger and an Ice Blade in his hands. Lee nodded in understanding and extended his spear, Verden drawing his tonfa and Rowan unsheathing his sword. The four stared each other down, standing in a small circle.

"Let's begin!" Silva yelled, immediately ducking a thrust from Lee's spear while his aggressor blocked Rowan's sword with his hidden blade. The three spared a glance in Verden's direction, seeing him holding his one hand towards them.

 _BANG_

Silva quickly teleported backwards, though he still suffered the effects of the concussive flash and slammed into a tree. When his vision returned, he looked towards where he had been, seeing Rowan and Lee recovering from the blast themselves while Verden was quickly moving towards him. Silva shook off the mild disorientation he was feeling and brought his weapons up to block his teammate's tonfa.

"Did you like my light show?" Verden asked with a grin. His grin disappeared when Silva disappeared in a flare of light, rolling forward to avoid from a swipe from his leader's Ice blade.

"Guess that was a 'No'." Verden spoke sarcastically as he forced Silva back with several rounds from his tonfa guns. Silva dodged most of the rounds, deflecting a few that he couldn't avoid. Silva charged his Ice dagger with his Aura and tossed it towards Verden. The hat wearing boy fired a shot from his tonfa to destroy it, though ducked when the dagger exploded into several large shards of ice. Silva attempted to reach for his revolver when he barely avoided a swipe from Rowan's sword. The blade shot threw the tree Silva was standing next to, sending it crashing to the ground. Verden moved to strike Silva from behind, though had to duck when Lee's spear flew past Silva, who dropped backwards onto his hands to avoid the weapon. Silva jumped to his feet, attempting to trip Rowan when Lee jumped over them, a rock pillar launching his spear back towards him in the air. He quickly sheathed his blade and spun, sharply swinging his weapon down towards Verden, who leaned his body to avoid the hard strike. He pinned the weapon down with his foot and blocked Lee's blade with one of his tonfa, leveling the other at Silva, who returned the favor with his revolver.

"What now?" Verden asked, then paled when he peered past Silva. He saw Rowan, sword sheathed, a short distance away. The boy's Aura flashed briefly before he moved to the tree he'd cut down moments earlier, wrapping his arms around it and hefting it into the air. Silva and Lee turned, breaking off when they saw their teammate swing the tree down towards them. Silva back-flipped away as the improvised club slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a divot in the ground. Silva turned and looked to his teammate.

"Rowan! Dial it back a bit!" Silva scolded.

"Sorry!" He replied, locking blades with Verden, who was still sweating a bit from tree he'd nearly been hit with. Silva ran back over, ducking a shot from Verden, and kicked Rowan in the back. He sent his teammate forward, though they used it to shoulder charge Verden, who rolled away to dodge. Verden continued to roll as he avoided a few stabs from Lee's spear, then got to his feet and knocked him away with a hard smash with his right tonfa. He turned to see an exchange of slashes between Silva and Rowan. After knocking back Silva's sword arm with a clever stroke, Rowan kicked his right foot out towards Silva. The silver haired boy ducked and with a spin, hooked his foot behind Rowan's other foot while pushing the outstretched leg upwards, sending the larger boy onto his back. Lee shot towards him and swiftly thrust out his spear, slightly striking his left side with one of the spear's edges. Silva proceeded to hook his arm around the outstretched weapon, bringing his blade up to block one of Verden's tonfa. Lee unsheathed his hidden blade to force Silva to release his spear but was forced to redirect it towards Rowan's incoming blade. The four were now grouped together again, each boy holding each other at bay.

"So, how is this gonna go down?" Rowan asked. Silva grinned as a clicking noise sounded, the designs on his arms changing to green. He quickly concentrated a quantity of Wind Dust into his hand and, maneuvering Lee's spear slightly, slammed the charged Dust into the ground, sending the four flying away from the ensuing concussive blast of wind. Rowan and Verden slammed into trees while Lee and Silva skidded several feet across the ground.

"Ow. Anyone know the number of a good chiropractor? Cause I think I might need one after hitting that tree." Verden joked, though winced as he held a hand to his back.

"That, wasn't half bad, Silva. Silva?" Lee asked, holding himself up with his spear. The three looked over to their leader, seeing him still on the ground.

"I'm okay. Ow." Silva replied, finally getting to his feet. He winced when he looked at his hand, seeing his pinky bent back at an odd angle. He bit his lip and with a muffled yell snapped it back in place, allowing his Aura to finish healing the damage.

"You okay?" Rowan asked.

"Yeah. I think that's enough of that. I certainly don't feel like doing that again." Silva spoke, rubbing his knuckles.

"So, what now?" Verden wondered.

"Well, our, 'brawl' I guess we could call it, gave me a few ideas for some tactics. How about we test them out?" Silva asked. The sun eventually began to set and the four decided to call it a day. After stowing their weapons away and getting a bite to eat, the four exhausted Huntsmen in training entered their dorm and donned their nightwear.

"Hey, guys?" Silva spoke.

"What is it, Silva?"'

"I want you guys to be honest. What were your thoughts when I was named leader?" Silva waited for a reply. Verden answered first.

"I'll admit I was surprised. Despite that, I'd say you were a good choice. Better than what I would have done. Not to mention you have an understanding of humor." Verden said with a smile.

"From what I've heard of Ozpin, he's very wise. It was his choice to elect you as the leader of our team, so that meant he saw you as the best choice. Not to mention that you were the one that led us back during the Initiation. Plus, I have to give my partner the benefit of the doubt." Rowan spoke.

"I...must say. At first, I wasn't on board. You're younger that us. You messed around during Port's class. You didn't seem to act like a leader. And, I'll admit, Ozpin choosing you over me got under my skin. But, after some thinking, I see that he made the right choice. I'm sorry for doubting you, and him."

"Thanks, guys. Get some rest."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be up for a bit, yet. I want to finish a few things for that assignment before I get to sleep." Silva said, taking a glance at Remnant's shattered moon before getting back to his paper.

* * *

No omake this time, sorry to say. Don't hesitate to review, constructive feedback is always appreciated.


	7. Jaunedice

_Chapter 6: Jaunedice_

Several weeks have passed since the commencement of classes at Beacon, and many of the first year students were once again in Combat Class, where Jaune and Cardin were currently sparring. The blonde haired knight tried his best, though was unable to deal any significant damage to the mace wielding boy. Eventually the two locked weapons, Cardin pressing Jaune downwards with his strength.

"This is the part where you lose." Cardin boasted.

"Over my dead…" Jaune began before being kneed in the gut by his opponent, collapsing to the ground moments later. Cardin loomed above him, mace held high above his head. The boy prepared to follow through when a buzzer sounded and the lights returned to normal, causing Cardin to pause his swing.

"Cardin, that's enough!" Ms. Goodwitch spoke, the boy lowering his weapon and stepping back a few steps.

"Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match." Goodwitch explained. Pyrrha saw Jaune still on the floor of the arena, a sad look overtaking her face.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" She continued, Jaune looking at his blinking Aura level on his scroll.

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin muttered, just loud enough for Jaune to hear. The professor looked to the students in the crowd.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" Silva noticed Verden, Lee and Rowan, along with team RWBY, were excited by the prospect.

" _Can't say that I'm not excited myself._ " Silva thought with a smile. The bell chose to ring at that moment, and the crowd began to disperse. Pyrrha noticed her leader still sitting on the stage, his head hanging dejectedly as everyone left the amphitheater.

* * *

At lunch, teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting across from each other at one table, team SLVR sitting nearby behind them. Silva chuckled at the story Nora was telling everyone.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora spoke.

"It was day." Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!" Nora yelled.

"Two of 'em." Ren interjected.

"But they were no match… And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Ren sighed as his partner finished her narrative.

"She's been have this recurring dream for nearly a month now." Ren explained, sipping the mug of coffee he was holding. Pyrrha noticed Jaune was picking at his food morosely.

"Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha asked, concerned for her leader/partner. Jaune snapped out of his thoughts

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?" Jaune asked, not convincing them.

"It's just that, you seem a little… _not_ okay." Ruby explained.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" He said, holding a thumb up while laughing nervously. He looked over to where Cardin's team was, seeing them harassing another student.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha spoke.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a bully." Ruby said.

"Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me." They brought up several examples, such as where Cardin knocked his books from his hands, activating the shift function of his sheath/shield which got him stuck in a doorway, and when he shoved Jaune into one of the school's rocket propelled lockers, launching him a short distance away from the school.

"I didn't land far from the school!" Jaune said.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha assured him.

"Ooooh! We'll break his legs!" Nora suggested, a diabolical grin on her face. Verden chuckled at the girl's eagerness.

"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone." Jaune explained. Everyone turned as laughter sounded nearby, seeing Cardin harassing the girl sitting farther down the table SLVR was at, tugging painfully at one of the girl's rabbit ears, indicating that she was a Faunus.

"Please, stop..." She pleaded.

"I told you it was real!" Cardin laughed.

"What a freak!" Russell added. Cardin released the girl's ear and she quickly walked away, hiding her face from RWBY and JNPR's table..

"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said, a bit of anger in her tone.

"He's not the only one..." Blake added, eyes glaring daggers at the boy.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus." Yang said. Jaune had gotten up and looked to his team, sighing before going to drop off his tray. Cardin watched Jaune leave, a smug grin on his face when something wet struck his cheek. He wiped the substance, which happened to be chocolate pudding, off his face and turned to where it came from, seeing Silva as the only one nearby with pudding on his tray. The orange haired boy quickly got to his feet and made his way over to where Silva was sitting, the rest of CRDL in tow. Silva continued eating until Cardin tapped him on the back.

"What's up, doc?" Silva quipped as he turned towards Cardin.

"What's the big idea, runt?"

"Huh? Oh, that? I just thought your face was missing something. I have some peas here if your brain is feeling lonely." Silva continued with a grin. Rowan and Verden laughed, Lee even showing a small smile at his leader's comment. Cardin's face twisted in anger as he slammed his fist down on the table.

"Now listen here. You'd better watch it, or-"

"Or what?" Silva interjected, slightly annoyed. Silva turned back to his food before being turned around by the boy.

"You think you're so tough."

"Considering I've beaten you in combat before, yes. Yes I do. Certainly more than you and the rest of the brain trusts you call a team." Silva attempted to turn back to his food when Cardin pulled the boy from his seat by the collar. Silva placed one of his hands on Cardin's shoulder, before violently kneeing the boy in the stomach, sending him to the floor, coughing.

"Guys, let's go." Silva said, fixing his collar and grabbing his tray, his team following suit.

"You're gonna regret this." Cardin hissed as SLVR dropped their trays off and left the dining hall. Cardin got to his feet and brushed himself off before he and his team left too. Yang laughed at Cardin's misfortune, and even Blake cracked a small smile. Pyrrha smiled a little at seeing Cardin being one upped, but she was still worried for Jaune.

* * *

RWBY, JNPR, and SLVR, among several others, were currently in World History, taught by Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, a green haired, bespectacled man wearing a partially tucked white shirt, a slack yellow tie, green slacks and mismatched brown and black shoes. The man was talking quickly and was moving around the room as he spoke, so quickly he almost appeared to be a blur each time he moved. Everyone assumed that the cause of this to be the coffee he'd been drinking since the lecture started. A large board behind the man had a map of Remnant, along with various notes connected with red string, linking several of them together in some fashion. Most of the students were paying attention, though some, like Jaune, were asleep.

"This is prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War! Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." Oobleck punctuated by pointing the stick in his hand to a section of the map behind him. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" The hyperactive teacher asked. A few of the students, including Velvet, the girl being bullied by Cardin earlier, reluctantly raised their hands.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the War?" Oobleck asked the class. Weiss raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle!"

"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" The teacher continued. Cardin, sitting behind Jaune, flicked a paper football at the back of the sleeping teen's head, abruptly disturbing his nap.

"Hey!" Jaune yelled. Doctor Oobleck immediately zoomed in front of the boy.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" The doctor/professor asked.

"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... of the Faunus..." Jaune stammered, looking past Oobleck at Pyrrha, who was subtly trying to give him the answer...had over that guy's stuff… Uhh...Binoculars!" The response was met with the laughter of a good portion of the class. Some, like Silva, winced at the extraordinarily incorrect response.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck replied, less than impressed. He saw Cardin's lackadaisical attitude and decided to shift the question to him. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin spoke insultingly.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha cut in, unimpressed by the boy's narrow-mindedness.

"What? You got a problem?" The orange haired boy accused.

"No, I have the answer. It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Cardin growled as Pyrrha delivered the correct answer.

"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." Blake chimed in, then turned to Cardin. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Silva smirked at the verbal beating the bully suffered.

" _Well played, Blake. Well played, indeed._ " Silva thought as Cardin rose from his seat, fist clenched.

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." Oobleck ordered. Jaune was even laughing at his tormentor's misfortune, though his laughter stopped when the professor stopped right in front of him.

"You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He spoke, taking another sip of coffee. Jaune groaned as Oobleck continued with his lesson.

* * *

After class, everyone was making their way out of the lecture hall, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha near the back of the group.

"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune." Pyrrha said as the two made their way down the hall. Back in the classroom, Oobleck was lecturing the two about their behavior.

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is… It stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now! Run along." Oobleck finished before zooming out of the room. Jaune and Cardin walked out a few moments later, the latter pushing the former to the ground. Jaune let out a yelp of pain as Cardin walked off with a laugh. Pyrrha helped the boy to his feet.

"You know, I really will break his legs." She spoke. Jaune sighed, though an idea appeared in Pyrrha's mind.

"I have an idea! Here, come with me." Pyrrha said, dragging Jaune with her down the corridor. Several minutes later Pyrrha brought Jaune onto the rooftop of one of the buildings, a clear view of the academy's namesake in the distance.

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not _that_ depressed." Jaune said as he looked over the edge of the roof, much to his partner's confusion. "I can always be a farmer or something…" Pyrrha suddenly got the meaning of his words and with a look of horror quickly pulled the boy back.

"N-n-no! That's not why I brought you up here!" She said. Unbeknownst to the two, Cardin was below them, partially leaning out of the windowsill. "Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so... I want to help you!" She explained.

"Wh-what?" Jaune asked.

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!" Pyrrha continued.

"You think I need help?"

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant."

"But you just said it."

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!" Pyrrha said. Jaune turned away and lowered his head.

"You're wrong. I-I don't belong here." He said lowly.

"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!"

"No, I don't!" Jaune yelled, slightly angry. He sighed and decided to continue. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..." He revealed, turning away from his partner again.

"Wh-what do you mean?" She asked, bewildered by his proclamation.

"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" He turned to Pyrrha again. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"

"What? But... why?"

"Cause this is always what I've wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough." Pyrrha walked next to him, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Then let me help you!"

"I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!" Jaune ranted in frustration.

"Jaune, I-"

"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?" Jaune spoke. Pyrrha attempted to console him, but he leaned away from her.

"Just...leave me alone. Okay?" Jaune asked.

"If that's what you think is best…" Pyrrha bowed her head dejectedly before leaving the roof. Jaune paced back and forth a bit when he heard laughing. He turned to the direction of the noise, seeing Cardin climb onto the roof from the window he'd been looking out.

"Oh, Jaune..."

"Cardin!" Jaune said, shocked.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room. So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!" Cardin explained. Jaune's eyes widened in horror.

"Please, Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!" Jaune begged the boy.

"Jaune, come on! I'd never rat on a friend like that!" Cardin explained deviously.

"A... a friend?" Jaune replied in confusion.

"Of course!" He replied, pulling Jaune into a headlock despite his struggling. "We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." He replied, releasing Jaune from the headlock.

"That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" He paused briefly. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, Jaune; your secret's safe with me." Cardin continued as he climbed back down into his dorm. Jaune looked at the ground, worried before eventually returning to his dorm.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, everyone noticed Jaune hanging around team CRDL quite often, much to the confusion of many. It was currently evening, most of the students having returned to their dorms. In JNPR's dorm, Nora was jumping up and down on her bed while Ren was cleaning his weapons and Pyrrha was looking out the window with a somber expression on her face.

"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asked.

"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin." Ren commented.

"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora continued, twirling and landing on her bed. (she proclaims this while twirling in midair so her back hits the covers)

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing."Pyrrha replied, more than a bit spiteful after Jaune's refusal of her help. Ren and Nora shared a glance, both noticing the irritation in red haired girl's tone.

"Mmmm... I guess so." Nora replied, not quite sure how to feel. Unbeknownst to the three, Jaune was standing outside the door and peeking inside. The boy hung his head and stealthily closed the door.

"Hey, Jaune. Long time no see." Jaune was startled when he turned, seeing Ruby in her sleepwear, giggling at his reaction.

"Did you lock yourself out again?" She continued.

"Oh, uh, nope! Got it." Jaune replied, raising his scroll.

"So! Where have you been lately?"Ruby asked.

"I, uh..." Jaune started before lowering his head with a sigh. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and… I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea. I'm a failure." Jaune answered, slumping to the ground while leaning against his room's door.

"Nope!" Jaune looked up at the girl in surprise.

"Nope?"

"Nope, You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure." Ruby explained.

"But...what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked.

"Hmm...Nope!" Jaune chuckled a bit at her response.

"You know, you're not the easiest person to talk about this kind of stuff." Jaune admitted.

"Nope! Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid…" Jaune groaned and sunk lower to the ground. "...and you might've even been a failure the first day we met. But, you can't be one now. You know why?" Ruby asked.

"Uhh, because…?"

"Because It's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. You're team deserves a great leaser, Jaune. And I think that can be you" Ruby explained, getting to her feet and walking back towards her dorm. "Have a good night, Jaune." She added with a wave before closing the door behind her. Jaune stood up and was about to enter his dorm when his scroll's ring tone blared out, getting his attention. He opened the device and saw a voice message left by Cardin.

"Hey! It's your buddy Cardin! I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps." Jaune yelped slightly, knowing the reputation of the large insects. "And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!" Jaune sighed and headed down the hallway away from his room.

* * *

 _Forever Fall, The following Day_ :

Professor Peach's first year class was currently in the forest of Forever Fall, being led by Professor Goodwitch since Peach was busy with another class.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Goodwitch explained, turning to face the group. Everyone immediately stopped, Jaune bumping into Cardin while carrying several empty jars. Goodwitch lifted the jar in her hand, showing it to the students.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" She said, allowing the students to spread out. Silva watched Jaune going off with Cardin and his team and frowned.

" _Something's up here. Jaune's been getting rather 'buddy-buddy' with Cardin and his teammates lately. And I see I'm not the only one confused about what's going on."_ Silva wondered, noticing Pyrrha's expression.

"Silva, you coming?" Verden spoke, waiting with the rest of SLVR.

"Yeah, wait up." Silva called as he ran to catch up to his teammates.

* * *

Team CRDL were making themselves comfortable against some rocks and trees, seeing Jaune come into view carrying half a dozen jars of red sap. The boy collapsed to the ground after setting the jars down, dazed by a reaction from the sap. After asking Cardin about the extra sap, the group was led to a small hill, overlooking where the rest of Jaune's team was located, Ren groaning at Nora constantly eating the sap he was collecting.

"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" Jaune asked, confused and a bit worried.

"Payback." was the boy's succinct reply. Jaune looked over to Pyrrha, his eyes widening in realization.

"Pyrrha….? Wh-what are you?..."

"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright boys. Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work." Russell grabbed Jaune's shoulder. "Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things _love_ sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach _her_ a thing or two." Cardin explained, pulling out the box of wasps Jaune had collected the previous evening. CRDL got to their feet, Cardin helping Jaune up roughly before thrusting the extra jar of sap into his hands.

"And you're gonna do it." He said.

"Do what?"

"Hit her with the sap!" Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Cardin said. Jaune looked at the jar of sap in his hands, reluctantly rearing his arm back and aiming towards where Pyrrha was kneeling. He noticed the girl turn her head, a warm smile on her face. Jaune's hand shook as he attempted to steel his nerves, but after another few moments he did something CRDL wasn't expecting.

"No." Jaune spoke with conviction, lowering the jar in his hand.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked, surprised and slowly becoming angered by the boy's refusal.

"I said...NO!" Jaune yelled, tightly gripping the jar of sap and turning, tossing the jar away. Jaune recoiled back a bit when the jar collided with Cardin's armored chest plate, covering it in red substance. Cardin looked himself over before laughing darkly.

"Oh, you've done it now..." He spoke, Sky and Dove grabbed Jaune's shoulders and pulled him away, the five moving deeper into the forest. Once a sufficient distance away, Cardin began to punch the boy, dealing several blows while his team stood nearby. One of the blows knocked a now bruised Jaune to the ground, before Cardin roughly pulled him back to his feet.

"You _know_ that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy." "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."

"I don't care what you do to me..." Jaune spoke, his expression hardening "... but you are _not_ messing with my team." He continued, fury evident in his voice that surprised even Cardin.

"What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?" Cardin asked. The only reply Jaune gave was a weary, but defiant smile. Cardin growled and aimed another punch towards Jaune's face. As soon as his fist connected, a bright, white light blinding those in the immediate area. When the flash subsided, Cardin had released Jaune, holding his hand in pain. Jaune, on the ground, looked to his hands in confusion as he saw them glow white briefly. The glow had also seemed to have healed some of the bruises on his face. Before he could marvel at what happened, he was roughly knocked down by a kick to the back from Sky. He looked up at Cardin, flanked by Dove and Russell.

"Let's see how much of a man you _really_ are..." Cardin boasted when a loud roar echoed nearby. They turned to the sound of heavy footfalls, seeing a large Grimm with several white bone spines and bone plates across its arms and back burst into the area. CRDL's expression turned to one of terror as they recognized the Grimm as an Ursa Major, a larger and more ferocious variant of Ursai. The gigantic beast stopped a short bit and stood on its hind legs, its head sniffing the air around it. The five instantly realized it was the sap that the Grimm was sniffing, as the bestial Grimm focused its attention on Cardin, landing back on all fours as it growled at Cardin.

"That's a big Ursa!" Russel yelled as he, Dove and Sky quickly fled the scene, leaving their leader and Jaune on their own. Cardin rose his arms just in time for the Ursa Major to swat him away. Jaune looked as the large Grimm continued to sniff the air, turning towards where Cardin had landed. The Grimm moved in on the boy, who pulled out his mace to attempt to scare off the creature. The attempt merely caused the giant Ursa to swat the weapon away, landing at Jaune's feet. Jaune looked towards Cardin, unsure whether to help the boy or run for safety. Teams RWBY, J(NPR), and SLVR were finishing up collecting sap when they heard a distant roar.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked in concern. Immediately after she spoke, Sky, Dove and Russell came into view, fear on their faces as they ran in the opposite direction of the roar.

"Ursa! Ursa!" Russell yelled, running into Yang. The girl, unfazed by the collision, easily hefted the boy up by his shirt.

"Where?" She asked.

"Back there! It's got Cardin."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha said as she dropped her jar of sap.

"Yang, you and Blake, go get professor Goodwitch!" Ruby ordered. Yang dropped Russell as she and Blake nodded, following her directions. Ruby and Pyrrha readied their weapons.

"You two, go with them! There could be more!" Pyrrha said to Ren and Nora, before they followed after Russell, Yang and Blake.

"Rowan, you and Verden follow them. Lee, we're going with Ruby." Silva spoke, drawing his revolver and forming an Ice blade in his left hand.

"Shouldn't _you_ go warn the professor? You could get to her more quickly." Lee asked.

"If anyone's injured I can get them out of there quicker than anyone else." Silva responded. Lee nodded while extending his spear and the six quickly proceeded towards Cardin and Jaune's location.

* * *

After getting to his feet, Cardin attempted to run from the Ursa Major. The Ursine Grimm merely jumped ahead of him and turned, knocking him to the ground with a swipe of its claws.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Cardin repeated as he tried to crawl away. Ruby and the others arrived, seeing the Ursa Major standing above the bully, ready to deliver the killing blow. Before the claw could connect, Jaune jumped between the two and blocked the blow with Crocea Mors' shield. The Ursa's sheer power began to press down on the boy, struggling to keep the offending limb at bay. Weiss readied her rapier to assist when Pyrrha stopped her.

"Wait!" She ordered. Jaune eventually managed to redirect the claw and delivered a slash to the Major's unprotected stomach, momentarily knocking it back. It recovered and shifted its attention to Jaune, swinging it's clawed paw towards the boy, who rolled to the side to evade, then jumped the Grimm's hooking swipe. The Ursa Major swung again while Jaune was in the air, connecting with a sharp blow that sent the boy sprawling. He rolled to his feet and charged back towards the Grimm, attempting to strike with a jumping swing that was batted away by its paw. Jaune slowly rose to his feet and looked at his scroll, attached to the back of his shield. He saw that his Aura was in the red, which meant if he took another hit his Aura wouldn't be able to absorb the impact. The Ursa Major stalked towards him, Jaune running towards it. He reared his arm back to strike while the Ursine Grimm readied its claw. Pyrrha saw Jaune's shield lower, knowing that if he didn't block the swing the Grimm would beat him to the punch. Taking matters into her own hands. Pyrrha rose her hand towards Jaune, coated in a black aura, and used her Semblance to guide her leader's shield to block and guide the Ursa's claw away, giving Jaune a clear shot. The boy jumped, Crocea Mors easily cleaving the large Grimm's head from its shoulders before both the Ursa's head and body collapsed noisily to the ground, slowly beginning to dissolve. Pyrrha lowered her hand and ceased using her Semblance.

"Uhhh... What?" Ruby asked, confused.

"How did you...?" Weiss began.

"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs. My Semblance is polarity." Pyrrha explained. Silva nodded.

" _So, that explains how she received the reputation of the 'Invincible Girl'"_ Silva mused.

"Whoa, you can control poles..." Ruby spoke.

"No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!" Weiss corrected.

"Magnets are cool, too..." Ruby whispered. Pyrrha began to walk off.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!" Ruby agreed.

"We could...Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" Pyrrha suggested. Ruby and Weiss smiled in understanding as Jaune walked over to Cardin, helping him to his feet.

"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin said, genuinely impressed.

"Don't _ever_ mess with my team. My _friends_ , _ever_ again. Got it?" Jaune threatened. He gave Cardin a few moments to let his words sink in before walking off. Cardin soon followed after after grabbing his mace, meeting up with Ruby's group and Jaune. Silva turned and aimed his revolver in Cardin's direction.

"Wait! What are you?!"

BAM

Cardin turned around, seeing a Beowolf with a hole in its chest a short distance behind, trying to crawl towards the boy. Silva fired another round that hit its head, killing it. Cardin looked at Silva, who shrugged in response before with a twirl holstered his weapon, making his way back to where the Professor and the others were waiting.

* * *

That evening, Jaune was standing on the roof he and Pyrrha had been on a few weeks previously, looking at Beacon's tower. He turned his head when he heard Pyrrha walk up next to him.

"No Cardin tonight? I thought you two were best buds." Pyrrha asked. Jaune turned to her, shame on his face.

"Pyrrha….I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"

"Jaune! It's okay!" Pyrrha assured him. "Your team really misses their leader, you know. You should come down! Ren made pancakes! We didn't have syrup at first, but Silva had an extra jar that he gave us." Pyrrha said as she made her way back towards the door.

"Wait!" Pyrrha turned to look at her partner. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha mulled the thought over in her head for a moment before walking over to Jaune and, to his surprise, pushed him to the ground.

"Hey!" Jaune complained.

"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." Pyrrha explained, offering a hand to the boy, who graciously accepted. "Let's try that again." She continued.

* * *

Unfortunately, once again no Omake. Since I've been busy, I haven't had the time to come up with any sufficiently entertaining ideas. Despite that, please don't hesitate to review.


	8. Black and White

_First off, many apologies for the incredibly long delay. That's what happens when not only the new Volume comes out, but life interferes with the thought processes. Hopefully this is worth the wait. Enjoy._

* * *

 _Chapter 7: Black & White_

Months have passed since RWBY, JNPR and SLVR had started the year at Beacon, and the first semester had come to a close. With a couple of weeks of free time before the start of the second term, as well as the fast approaching Vytal Festival, Beacon's student body was enjoying the free time. Team RWBY had, at Weiss' request, decided to spend the day in Vale. Many of the buildings around them boasting red, yellow, and green balloons and flags, accompanied by signs with 'WELCOME TO VALE!' in bright red letters in anticipation of the various tourists from the other kingdoms. Currently the all female huntress-in-training team was making their way towards the docks.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss said, acting more excited than usual.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out..." Ruby replied, frowning a bit at the heiress' unusually cheery mood.

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss rambled on.

"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang interjected.

"Quiet, you!" Weiss snapped.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" The blonde continued.

"Ugh, they smell like fish!" Ruby agreed, plugging her nose at the strong smell of fish.

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss explained.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake translated.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss replied defensively.

"Whoa." Ruby spoke as she turned her head, looking towards a building down a nearby street, cordoned off with police tape. The four walked towards one of the detectives, who was sporting a beard, who was writing something in a notepad.

"What happened here?" Ruby asked the detective.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." The man explained as he walked towards his partner.

"That's terrible." Yang sighed sadly.

"They left all the money again." The second detective said, catching Ruby's attention.

"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust.?" the bearded detective asked.

"I don't know, an army?" The second detective asked.

"You thinking the White Fang?" the bearded detective asked, waving his sidearm around. His partner removed his sunglasses.

"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get payed enough."

"Hmm! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss stated, pointing her nose upwards as she crossed her arms.

"What's your problem?" Blake asked, annoyed by the Heiress' attitude.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." the white clad girl stated manner-of-factly.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake countered.

"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're _very_ misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"

"Hmm... Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him." Ruby added, remembering her encounter with the thief a few months prior.

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Weiss continued, further angering the bow wearing teen.

"That's not necessarily true..." Yang spoke, before the four heard shouting down by one of the docked ships.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" The four made their way towards the source of the commotion, seeing a couple of sailors chasing a blonde teen wearing an open, white collared jacket and blue cargo pants, with a monkey tail the same color as his hair sticking out the back. When it appears the men pursuing him are about to catch him, the boy jumps onto the side of the ship.

"Thanks for the ride, guys!" The boy spoke with a chuckle before jumping onto the dock, away from his pursuers.

"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors yelled. The boy then scaled a nearby lamppost, hanging upside down from it with his tail as he pulled out a banana.

"Hey! A 'no-good' stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" They replied. The blonde was about to take a bite from his banana when a rock nearly collided with his head, flying past him into the water.

"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" The bearded detective from earlier replied. The monkey Faunus' response was to toss his banana peel on the older man's face, causing him to growl in anger. The blonde twirled up to crouch on top of the lamppost, laughing in amusement before leaping over and away from the detectives. The Faunus quickly ascended the nearby staircase and passed by RWBY. For a brief instant, Blake watched the blonde Faunus look in her direction as he passed, offering a wink before running off into Vale, the two detectives in pursuit.

"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." Yang said in slight amusement.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss commanded, before she, Ruby and Yang began to run after the blonde Faunus and the pursuing officers. Blake stayed in her spot for a moment, deep in thought, before finally deciding to follow her teammates. The four teens watched the blonde and the detectives round another corner and continue following, though Weiss ends up running into someone as she rounds the corner and trips. The white haired girl looks up, seeing the Faunus jump onto a nearby building and out of view.

"No, he got away!"

"Uhh...Weiss?" Yang spoke, pointing to the girl the Heiress had knocked over. Weiss sees the girl and with a startled gasp gets to her feet.

"Sal-u-ta-tions!" The girl said with a wave. The girl had short, curled orange hair with a pink bow and bright green eyes, and wore an old-fashioned blouse and short, gray feminine overalls.

"Um... hello." Ruby replied half-heartedly.

"Are you... okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The girl replied, still laying on the ground to the four's bewilderment.

"Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked. The girl seemed to ponder for a moment.

"Yes!" She replied, curling her legs and leaping to her feet."My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" The now identified Penny spoke.

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, causing Blake to elbow the blonde in the side. "Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said.

"You already said that." Weiss pointed out.

"So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss apologized.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby added with a wave before RWBY began to walk away.

"She was...weird..." Yang commented after getting out of earshot of the girl.

Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss said to herself as she

"What did you call me?" Penny asked, having suddenly appeared in front of the group without warning, startling them.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang apologized.

"No, not you." Penny interrupted, walking past Yang and Weiss to come face to face with Ruby. "You!"

"Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh.." Ruby stumbled, startled by the orange-haired girl's odd behavior.

"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" The ginger haired girl asked.

"Ummm..." Ruby pondered how to respond as she looked behind Penny at her teammates, each of them motioning for her to say 'No'. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" Yang and the others collapsed at that, though Penny seemed to be overjoyed by Ruby's response.

"Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys." Penny replied, eerily similar to how Weiss had mocked her the day she'd first entered Beacon.

"Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked her partner.

"No. She seems far more coordinated."

"So…. What are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny answered.

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny added with a salute.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss pointed out.

"Says the girl wearing a dress?" Blake interjected.

"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss stated, Ruby speeding next to her.

"Yeah!" Weiss holds out her hand to Ruby, who low-five's it. Weiss suddenly had a moment of realization.

"Wait a minute." Weiss spoke as she walked over to Penny. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed…. rapscallion?"

"The who...?" Penny asked, neither noticing Blake's hardening gaze.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Weiss said, holding up an extremely crude sketch of said Faunus. Blake chose that moment to interrupt.

"Why do you keep saying that?!"

"Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake argued, fed up with her teammate's scathing comments.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Weiss gestured to said items.

"Stop it!"

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"

"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growled before storming off.

"How _dare_ you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" Weiss

"You are a judgmental little girl." Blake accused.

"What in the world makes you say that?"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!"

"Um, I think we should probably go..." Yang suggested, uncomfortable with the rapidly changing mood as she slid next to her sister..

"Where are we going?" Penny asked, popping up behind the siblings.

"So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Weiss accused.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it!" Blake refuted. The two stormed off, followed closely by their teammates while Penny eventually wandered off on her own. Up on a nearby building, the Faunus boy had been watching the entire conversation, and was preparing to leave the roof when he heard someone behind them.

"I have to admit. That was quite a spectacle you created down there by the docks." The blonde turned, seeing a boy standing on the same roof that appeared to be around his age obscured by the shadow of the adjacent building.

"Uh, thanks?" The Faunus replied uncertainly.

"What, you don't recognize me, monkey boy?" The boy spoke, walking closer to said 'monkey boy' and out of the shadows.

"Wait. Silva?!" The blonde replied.

"The one and only. Now, mind explaining what all that was about, Sun? Maybe over a drink? Silva asked, holding out a hand to the now identified Sun. The blonde eagerly shook his hand and the two soon found themselves at a nearby cafe, out of sight of Vale's police. Silva was sipping on a cup of coffee while Sun was drinking tea, lifting the cup with his tail.

"So, how's Vacuo these days?"

"From what I've seen nothing has really changed, though I hadn't been in Vacuo until recently. I actually moved to Mistral last year and I'm currently attending Haven Academy." Sun explained.

"Then why did you arrive on a ship from Vacuo?"

"I went back to visit, then stowed away on a ship with students from Shade. I almost made it without being spotted, but a couple crew members noticed me when I filched a few bananas after the ship had docked."

"I'm assuming you snuck aboard instead of paying because it was more amusing, correct?"

"You know it."

"I wouldn't want to be your team leader right now."

"Actually…." Sun trailed off.

"They...made you leader, didn't they?" Silva slammed his head onto the table when the boy nodded.

"Yep. I'm the leader of team SSSN (Sun). So, enough about me. How have you been holding up?"

"Well, I've been keeping busy."

"Working with your dad?"

"No, I'm attending Beacon."

"Wait, you're in Beacon?"

"Managed to get in a year early. That's nothing though. Did you see the darker haired girl with the red cloak?" Sun nodded "She's actually a year younger than me."

"Wow. She must be pretty good." Silva nodded. "So, where's your team?"

"They're wandering around Vale right now. I wanted to wander off on my own and noticed the commotion you caused. Thankfully it wasn't anything serious."

"So, who's the leader of your team?"

"You're looking at him. Leader of team SLVR."

"Not bad."

"I've been meaning to ask. Did you happen to catch what exactly the two girls you saw were arguing about?" Silva asked.

"Me, partially. It seemed to devolve into some argument about Faunus. That white haired girl didn't seem to like them very much."

"I see." Silva said, mentally filing that information away. "Well, I'd better be off. I'd rather not miss the airship back to Beacon. See you around?"

"Yeah." Sun spoke as Silva rose from his seat, leaving some Lien on the table. Before he reached the door he turned back to the blonde Faunus.

"Oh, Sun."

"Yeah?

"Try and keep out of trouble if you could. The local PD might have trouble keeping up with you, but my dad is aware of your penchant for shenanigans." Silva warned before walking outside of the shop.

"Hmph. Killjoy." Sun grumbled a bit before getting back to his drink, pulling out another banana.

* * *

Beacon – Evening

In Team RWBY's dorm, Weiss and Blake were still arguing, much to the chagrin of their teammates.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss asked.

"That _is_ the problem!" Blake replied.

"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Weiss spoke, rising from her bed. Blake following suit.

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like _you_ , that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me?" Weiss asked, offended.

"You're discriminatory!" Blake accused.

"I'm a victim!" Weiss shot back, staring the dark haired girl down.

"You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" Weiss asked, walking towards the window and leaning on the bookcase under it. "It's because they've been in war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed. An entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." Weiss explained, her tone lowering a bit. Ruby attempted to comfort her partner but she shrugged her off.

"No!" She turned and walked back towards Blake. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Weiss yelled.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake blurted out, regretting her words as soon as they'd been spoken. Weiss' eyes widened as she took a couple steps back, stunned by the girl's words.

"I…...I….." Blake attempted to say, voice wavering before she quickly dashed from the room in a run.

"Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby said, though stopped due to the girl's massive head start. Yang just looked at Weiss. Blake quickly ran outside the building and ending up stopping in front of Beacon's statue. She stared at for several moments, the Beowolf near the bottom in particular, before closing her eyes, undoing the bow atop her head, revealing a pair of cat ears, signifying that she was a Faunus. She wiped away a tear and felt like she was about to cry when she heard footsteps.

"I take it Weiss didn't take the news well?" Blake turned to see Silva, wearing a silver sleeveless shirt and black pants. She saw his ponytail was undone, and noticed he was sweating quite a bit and her enhanced hearing could hearing him breathing rather heavily. Blake attempted to walk away but Silva quickly intercepted her.

"What do you care?" Blake asked.

"If it makes you feel any better, I figured it out after a couple days." Blake was taken aback.

"How?"

"From my experience, a bow doesn't twitch in accordance to one's mood."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't my business. I didn't tell anyone, if you were wondering. Not the staff. Not even my own team. You had your reasons, and I respected that. I'll admit, hearing you were a member of the White Fang was a bit of a shocker." He revealed. She figured he heard her argument with Weiss through their wall.

"So, are you gonna turn me in?" Blake asked, sullen.

"For what? You don't seem to be a member anymore. Look. Just, go relax. Find somewhere to get your mind off things. I'll keep a line open if you need it." Silva said, making his way back towards the school. A short time after Silva walked off, Blake heard another voice.

"I knew you would look better without the bow." Blake looked up to see the Faunus from earlier, sitting atop a nearby tree. Blake remembered what Silva said and followed the blonde boy after a short conversation, the two waiting a few hours until they caught a ride on an airship to Vale.

* * *

Vale – Two Days Later

Ruby, Weiss and Yang were again wandering the streets of Vale, Ruby and Yang attempting to find Blake.

"She's been gone all weekend..." Ruby morosely spoke, worried for her missing friend and teammate.

"Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself!" Weiss replied coldly.

"Weiss, come on, she's one of our teammates." Yang interjected.

"Is she? We all heard what she said!"

"Weiss..." Ruby started.

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her!" Yang spoke up.

"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Weiss spoke disparagingly

"I just hope she's okay..." Ruby muttered. Several blocks away, Blake and Sun, who'd given the cat Faunus his name the night he found her, were sitting at the same cafe Silva had taken him the day he'd arrived, this time choosing to sit at a table on the building's balcony.

"So, you want to know more about me..." Blake asked after taking a sip of her tea.

"Finally, she speaks! Nearly two days and you gave me nothing but small talk and weird looks!" Blake responded with a glare "Yeah, like that."

"Sun... Are you familiar with the White Fang?" Blake asked.

"Of course! I don't think there's a Faunus on the planet who hasn't heard of them. Stupid, holier-than-thou creeps that use force to get whatever they want. Bunch of freaks, if you ask me!" Sun commented.

"I was... once a member of the White Fang." Blake revealed. Sun choked on his drink at the reveal.

"Wait a minute, _you_ were a member of the White Fang?!" Sun asked in surprise.

"That's right. I was a member for most of my life, actually. You could almost say I was born into it..." Blake spoke. "Back then, things were different. In the ashes of war, the White Fang was meant to be a symbol of peace and unity between Humans and the Faunus. Of course, despite being promised equality, the Faunus were subjected to discrimination and hate. Humanity still thought of us as lesser beings. And so, the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people. And I was there." She explained, remembering when she was just a young girl, joining in the protests with other Faunus.

"I was at the front of every rally. I took part in every boycott. I actually thought we were making a difference. But I was just a youthful optimist. Then, five years ago, our leader stepped down, and a new one took his place. A new leader, with a new way of thinking. Suddenly, our peaceful protests were being replaced with organized attacks. We were setting fire to shops that refused to serve us, hijacking cargo from companies that used Faunus labor. And the worst part was, it was working. We were being treated like equals. But not out of respect... out of fear. So, I left. I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence, and instead, I would dedicate my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am: a criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little black bow." Blake finished, emphasizing the last bit by wiggling her ears a bit through her bow. Sun took a few minutes to process what she'd told him.

"So... have you told your friends any of this?" Sun asked. Blake only looked down in shame.

"Well, she just told one." Blake turned her head and saw Silva, wearing his combat attire and holding his scroll in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

"Silva, what're you doing here?"

"I volunteered to help Ruby find you. In case you are wondering, I haven't told them where you are yet. I was planning on leaving the decision to you."

"How did you find me?" Silva reached behind her, pulling a small round device the size of a coin off of Gambol Shroud.

"CCT locator. I guess you didn't notice I planted it on your weapon."

"Did you..."

"Yeah, I heard it all. I don't care. You're still a friend, Faunus or not."

* * *

Back with Ruby, she and Yang were calling out Blake's name, hoping they could find their missing teammate.

"Weiss, you're not helping."

"Oh! You know who might be able to help? The police!" Weiss retorted.

"Ugh, Weiss..." Ruby scolded.

"It was just an idea!" Weiss said defensively.

"Yeah, a bad one." Ruby added.

"Weiss, I think we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions." Yang proposed.

"I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!" Weiss shot back.

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!" Weiss heard behind her, the three turning to see Penny.

"Aaaah! Penny! Where did you come from!?" Ruby asked.

"Hey guys! What are you up to?" Penny spoke, seeming to ignore the question.

"Uhh..."

"We're looking for our friend Blake." Yang answered.

"Ooooh, you mean the Faunus girl!" Penny said, leaving the three to blink at her.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Uhh, the cat ears?" Penny replied, pointing to her head for emphasis.

"What cat ears? She wears a... bow..." Yang trailed off as she and the others came to the realization, a tumbleweed passing by in the ensuing silence.

"She does like tuna a lot..." Ruby said to Yang quietly.

"So, where is she?"

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday." Ruby explained.

"That's terrible!" Penny gasped, approaching an uncomfortable Ruby. "Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!"

"Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! Right, guys?" Ruby said, turning to where Yang and Weiss had been standing, only seeing empty space. Another bout of silence enveloped the area as another tumbleweed passed by.

"It sure is windy today!" Penny said.

* * *

Blake, Sun and Silva had left the cafe after finishing their tea, Sun wondering what to do next.

"So, what's the plan now."

"I still don't believe the White Fang is behind these robberies. They've never needed that much Dust before."

"What if they did? I mean... the only way to prove that they didn't do it, is to go to the place where they would most likely go to if they were to do it, and not find them there! Right?" Sun theorized.

"The only thing is, I've no idea where that would be." Blake frowned.

"Well, while I was on the ship, I heard some guys talking about offloading a huge shipment of Dust coming in from Atlas."

"How huge?"

"Huge. Big Schnee Company freighter."

"You're sure?" Blake asked.

"He's correct. I noticed several shipping containers with the Schnee logo on them being offloaded yesterday." Silva added. Blake nodded and the three stealthily made their way to the docks.

* * *

Vale Dockyard – Night

Blake was laying prone atop the roof of one of the dock's warehouses, Silva nearby checking something on his scroll.

"Did I miss anything?" Sun asked as he jumped onto the roof, carrying an armful of apples.

"Not really. They've offloaded the crates from the boat. Now they're just sitting there." Blake answered.

"Cool. I stole you some food!" Sun said as he held one of the apples in his arms out to her.

"Do you always break the law without giving a second thought?" Blake asked as Silva grabbed the apple from his hand, taking a bite from it.

"Hey, weren't you in a cult or something?" Sun countered, though winced at the piercing glare Blake gave him. Even Silva gave the monkey Faunus a disapproving glare. "Okay, too soon!"

"It's best to ignore it. I've just gotten used to his antics. As long as they're harmless." Silva replied quietly. Shortly after the wind began to pick up, the three looking up to see a Bullhead with its searchlights active, moments later landing near some of the crates. The Bullhead's side door opened and a ramp descended. They soon saw one of the occupants walk down the ramp. The person was wearing a dark jumpsuit with a hood, gray vambraces, a white vest and a white mask covering the top half of their face. The person turned, displaying a symbol of a red wolf with three claw marks slashed through it.

"Oh no…" Blake breathed.

"Is that them?" Sun asked.

"Yes...It's them." Down at the Bullhead, another four White Fang members descended down the ramp while a fifth stood in the opening, a combat rifle in his hands.

"Alright, grab the tow cables." The one WF member ordered.

"You really didn't think they were behind it, did you?" Sun asked honestly.

"No. I think deep down I knew. I just didn't want to be right." Blake replied sullenly. She closed her eyes, opening them suddenly when she hears another voice down below.

"Hey! What's the holdup!?" The three looked down to see none other than Roman Torchwick walking down the ramp, cane in hand. "We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"

"This isn't right. The White Fang would never work with a Human. Especially not one like that." Blake spoke as she got to her feet, unsheathing the Katana portion of Gambol Shroud.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Sun asked as the Faunus girl jumped to the ground, sneaking close to where Roman was berating one of the White Fang members.

"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!" Roman spat, hands behind his back and resting on his cane. Any further train of thought the bowler hat sporting man may have had was suddenly interrupted by the curved reverse edge of Gambol Shroud resting close to his throat.

"What the- Oh, for f-"

"Nobody move!" Blake ordered to the White Fang soldiers nearby, brandishing guns as well as swords.

"Whoa! Take it easy there, little lady." Roman spoke. The White Fang slowly moved towards the two when Blake, with her free hand, removed her ribbon from her head, revealing her Faunus ears.

"Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?" Blake's announcement caught the Faunus off-guard, leaving them unsure what to do.

"Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?" Roman chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" Blake demanded.

"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together."

"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation." Before Blake could prod for more information, she was interrupted by the air whipping around, due to the arrival of another pair of Bullheads.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a _little_ operation..." Roman said with a smirk. Taking advantage of Blake's lack of concentration, he slightly maneuvered the bottom of his cane, pulling a trigger than fired an explosive at the ground that knocked Blake off her feet. As Blake hits the ground she rolled to her feet, avoiding several of the whistling explosives being fired from Roman's cane. Blake moved for cover behind some shipping containers as Roman slowly followed.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty..." Roman taunted when he felt a banana peel land on his hat, tilting it slightly. He growled and looked upwards, his eyes widening.

"Woohoo!" Sun cried as he jumped off one of the containers, landing on Roman's shoulders and sending the criminal to the ground before tucking into a roll, landing on his feet.

"Leave her alone." Sun spoke. He noticed a pair of White Fang Bullheads enter the area, a small squad of armed WF members jumping from the open blast doors to support Roman, surrounding the blonde Faunus.

"You're not the brightest banana in the bunch, are you, kid?" Roman spoke before the assembled White Fang soldiers charged at Sun. Sun immediately knocked back two of his assailants with well timed punches, then knocked back a couple more with a kick and a well timed strike with his tail. He ducked beneath the swing of one of the WF member's sword strokes before striking another with his weapon, a red and gold colored collapsing staff. After delivering a hard strike to the one attacking him with a sword, he swiftly went on the offensive, quickly disabling several of the radical Faunus surrounding him with a flurry of hard blows from his staff, or well timed kicks to knock them away. Roman ducked beneath one of the White Fang soldier's attacked by the blonde, who flew into the shipping container behind the criminal. With an annoyed groan, Roman aimed his cane and fired another projectile, though it was blocked when Sun spun his staff to disperse the concussive effect of the explosive.

"He's mine!" Blake announced as the smoke cleared, charging at Roman with both blades of Gambol Shroud and lashed out with a flurry of blows. The bowler hat sporting criminal managed to counter every strike, even outmatching Blake's semblance as he began to get the upper hand, landing a few blows with his weapon and knocking her to the ground. Sun wasted no time and charged past Blake as she hit the ground, kicking out at Roman before splitting his staff into a pair of nunchaku. The blonde Faunus swung his weapon a few times before leveling one of the ends of his weapon at Roman, pulling a trigger that launched a spray of steel that barely missed the older man. Roman went on the defensive as Sun expertly twirled his shotgun nunchaku at the criminal, firing several rounds that the more experienced thief managed to deflect. After several strikes, Blake charged past Sun and, taking advantage of the situation, landed a hard blow with her blade that knocked Roman back several feet. As the criminal hit the ground, he spotted a shipping container sitting above his adversaries. He quickly rose to his feet and fired at the hook supporting the container, sending it crashing down and separating Sun from Blake. As Sun attempted to rise to his feet after avoiding the container, his gaze was met with the business end of Roman's weapon aimed just inches from his face. Two rounds from a handgun quickly whizzed past Roman's face, causing him to move away from his intended target. Sun moved away and looked towards the source of the gunfire, seeing Silva standing nearby with his revolver aimed at the suave criminal.

"Sorry about the wait, I had to make a call." Silva said, the designs on his jacket glowing blue. "So, the infamous Roman Torchwick. I must say, I expected more from a well-renowned thief." Silva taunted. Any further taunting was cut off by the White Fang soldiers that Sun had fought surrounding him. Silva batted the sword of one of his assailants away with his gun before retaliating with a reverse roundhouse kick, then moved into a cartwheel to avoid another pair of blades attempting to strike him. Silva holstered his gun and then moved into a spinning side flip, catching the upper chest of a White Fang soldier with his legs and roughly pulling him to the ground, then rolled to avoid a kick from another White Fang soldier. As Silva attempted to get to his feet, one of the Faunus prepared a straight kick to hit him in the chest. Silva anticipated the move and moved his leg to sweep out the Faunus' non-kicking leg, knocking them on their back. Silva rolled forward after the sweep and got to his feet, then immediately dropped low to the ground and struck an approaching Faunus with a hard kick with his left foot, following the arc of the kick to rise to his feet once again. He then moved towards another assailant, dodging a sword swing before planting his hands on the ground and bringing up one of his heels to strike the White Fang soldier with a devastating scorpion kick, knocking them away. Silva immediately moved into a back walk over to avoid the discharge of another soldier's handgun, then performed a second while kicking the gun barrel upwards, leaving the Faunus open to a straight kick from Silva. Silva watched the Faunus fly back and turned back to where Sun, Blake and Roman were fighting.

"Hey!" A voice called out. Blake and Sun were knocked back a few paces and Roman turned to the source of the call, which belonged to Ruby, Scythe extended with the blade embedded into the roof.

"Well, hello, Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?" Roman taunted. Silva noticed the girl who was behind Ruby.

"Ruby, are these people your friends?" Penny asked.

"Penny, get back!" Ruby ordered, taking her eyes off Torchwick. Using the momentary distraction, Roman rose his weapon and fired, the whistling projectile striking Ruby into the torso and sending her flying backwards. Roman let out an evil laugh, which was quickly interrupted by a glowing red knife that exploded nearby. Roman looked towards Silva, a look of anger on the boy's face before seeing him disappear in a white flash. Silva then appeared right in front of the criminal, who quickly blocked the swing from the steaming, red crystalline sword that had formed in Silva's hand. The two quickly began trading swings with their respective weapons, Silva occasionally attempting to catch the professional thief off guard with a round from his revolver. During the exchange, Penny had turned her head toward the criminal with a glare, walking forward despite Ruby's protests.

"Penny, wait! Stop!"

"Don't worry, Ruby. I'm combat ready." Penny replied, the small backpack she had been wearing opened, revealing a folding sword that quickly split into nearly a dozen duplicates, seemingly all floating behind her. The ginger haired girl quickly leapt from the roof, attacking several of the nearby White Fang soldiers with the blades as she descended to the ground. With a movement of the arms, Penny's blades, connected to near invisible high-tensile wires, began to follow her movements, quickly dispatching several of the Faunus attempting to harm her. Sun and Blake prepared to assist Silva when they heard jet engines, seeing a trio of Bullheads with machine guns preparing to make a pass on the people below.

"Whoa!" Sun exclaimed as he and Blake made for cover. Back with Silva, Torchwick managed to knock him back with a hard strike from his cane after breaking the weapon in the boy's hand, though Silva fell into a roll and dodged behind a container when the criminal attempted to fire on him, allowing Roman to move away towards one of the Bullhead's already on the ground as he watched the airborne VTOLs make their gun run. Penny, having just knocked out a squad of White Fang foot soldiers, moved her blades in front of her and made them rotate rapidly to deflect the incoming fire. She then propelled a pair of blades from her back back, into a far wall of a warehouse, pulling herself back and away from the hailstorm of bullets. The other blades Penny was using folded into a gun-like form before spinning in front of her. In the middle of the spinning weapons a large ball of energy began to build up. Several seconds later Penny moved her arms forward, the large energy ball channeling to the gun-like objects and fired several laser-like beams of energy, slicing apart two of the Bullheads and sending them crashing into the water. Penny quickly made her way over to another Bullhead attempting to escape with a container of Dust, only for the ginger haired girl to spear the aircraft with several of her blades, the wires preventing the craft from escaping. Penny moved backwards, keeping the wires taut as the Bullhead's engines were pushed to the max in an attempt to pull away.

"How is she doing that?" Ruby wondered aloud. Eventually, With a forceful tug, Penny pulled the aircraft down into a large stack of cargo containers, utterly destroying the craft just seconds after the crew abandoned it.

"These kids just keep getting weirder." Roman commented as he closed the hatch of the Bullhead with his cane before the two remaining White Fang Bullheads quickly vacated the area. Penny quickly subdued the WF members that had escaped the crashed Bullhead and looked up to Ruby, offering the scythe wielder a smile. Silva, Sun, and Blake made their way over to the two.

"That was awesome!" Sun exclaimed. Silva nodded and turned to Ruby.

"You okay? Torchwick got a good hit on you."

"I'll be fine. Thanks for the call, by the way." Ruby replied, indicating that she was the one Silva called. Silva looked over to Blake and gestured to Ruby. Blake nodded as several Police cars appeared on scene, officers swarming the area and apprehending the dazed or unconscious White Fang members still in the area. A short time later, Ms. Goodwitch had appeared, getting statements from those involved before allowing them to hang around the area. The four Huntsmen/Huntresses-in-training, Silva having went to get the group some drinks, were sitting on some wooden crates when they spotted Weiss and Yang walking towards them.

"Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..." Ruby quickly explained as Weiss walked past her and over to Blake.

"Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-" Blake began as Weiss interrupted.

"Stop! Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you? _Twelve_ hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided..." Weiss started, The others looking on with worried expressions. "I don't care."

"You don't care?" Blake asked, taken aback by the heiress' answer.

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?" Weiss asked.

"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..." She looked at Sun as she paused. "Someone else." Weiss corrected.

"Of course." Blake replied. The two smiled in silence that was quickly broken by Ruby.

"Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!" Ruby exclaimed happily as her team, Silva and Sun gathered together, Silva offering some sodas that he was carrying.

"I'm still not quite sure about how I feel about you!" Weiss spoke harshly to the monkey Faunus, prompting him to laugh nervously.

"Hey, wait a minute... Where's Penny?" Ruby asked. Nearby in a darkened limo, Penny was watching the group reunite.

"You should know better than to go running around in a strange city." The limo driver admonished.

"I know, sir." Penny replied sadly.

"Penny, your time will come..." The driver spoke before driving away from the scene.

"I wouldn't worry about her. She probably had to get back to wherever she's staying. It _is_ getting late."

"You're right."

"Silva." A deep voice sounded behind the group. They turned, seeing a man in a brown jacket and black pants, a revolver holstered at his left hip and a handle to another weapon jutting from behind his waist. He also had a sheath for a curved knife on his right thigh.

"Dad. I'm surprised you didn't show up earlier." Silva replied.

"Hi, Mr. Dresden!" Sun waved.

"Sun, you wouldn't happen to know anything about a stowaway from Vacuo a couple days ago, would you?" The man asked. Sun paled and shook his head. The man turned to the all Huntress team without skipping a beat.

"Good. Now, who are these lovely young ladies?"

"Ruby Rose, sir."

"It's Weiss, Mr Dresden. It's nice to see you again."

"Blake."

"What's your dad doing here, Silva?" Yang asked. After receiving a few glares, Yang continued. "Oh. Sorry. It's Yang."

"Robert Dresden, Private Investigator and Huntsman, at your service." Robert announced.

"Your dad's a detective?" Ruby asked. Silva nodded.

"He's been after leads on Torchwick for the past couple months. Among other things."

"That I have. Also, we wanted to see how our reckless son has been these past few months."

"We?" Silva asked, then heard someone clear their throat behind him.

"It's good to see you again, Silva." The boy turned and saw his mother, standing behind him in a white leather jacket and gray jeans. Carrying an infant with snow white hair and a pair of white fox ears.

"Oh, uh. Hi, mom." Silva spoke, slightly nervous. The woman handed the child to her husband and walked up to her son, embracing him in a bear hug, which Silva returned.

"Silva. I have one question."

"Yes?"

"Which of these beautiful girls is your girlfriend?"

"MOM!" Silva exclaimed, blushing with embarrassment. Similar blushes were on the faces of team RWBY while Sun was rolling on the ground, tears in his eyes from how hard he was laughing.

"Lucille, don't embarrass the boy like that." Robert admonished, though he had a small grin on his face. After the initial shock everyone calmed down, though Silva's cheeks were still tinged red. The girls crowded around the child in the woman's arms.

"She's a Faunus. Are you-?" Blake began to ask.

"No. Her parents died in a fire about six months ago helping in the evacuation of the building. Her mother asked me to take her and I couldn't find it in my heart to refuse." Robert recalled sullenly.

"She's so cute." Ruby added, carefully playing with one of the child's hands.

"Well we'd best be heading home. Get some rest, Silva. Nice meeting you all." Robert said as he and Lucille quickly walked off.

"So. That was a thing." Yang spoke after a minute of stunned silence.

"I'm sorry about my mom. She loves embarrassing me." Silva apologized.

"It's fine. She didn't mean any harm by it." Yang laughed.

"Are both your parent's Huntsmen?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, but my mom's semi-retired, since Meghan's so young. She's considered getting back into the game once she's old enough."

"That was fun and all, but I'm going to get some sleep. See you around sometime soon." Sun announced before leaping onto a nearby building and out of sight.

"We should get back to Beacon. Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow this will feel like just a dream. A horribly embarrassing dream." Silva suggested before the five made their way towards the airship launchpad. Nearby Silva's parents were making their way back to their car.

"I'm glad I managed to convince Ozpin to let him in. He's seems to have opened up a lot more since he entered Beacon. And he seems to have made a good number of friends as well." Robert commented

"Those girls seem quite nice. Qrow's apprentice in particular seems interesting. It was cute seeing Silva embarrassed though. From his reaction I think one of the girls has taken his interest." Lucille added with a devious smile.

"Only time will tell, dear. Now, let's get the little one home and put to bed."

* * *

 _Beacon Tower:_

Ozpin was currently sitting in his office, observing the video feed on his scroll of Ruby and the others at the docks. He closed the feed and noticed his scroll's inbox had a message from Qrow, Ruby and Yang's uncle. He tapped the icon and read the words carefully.

 **MSG: QUEEN HAS PAWNS**

"Hmmm..." Ozpin mused as he digested the information provided.

* * *

 _Unknown Warehouse:_

After evading the authorities, Roman made his way to one of the warehouses used as a safe house carrying a case containing Dust. He placed the case onto a table inside and sighed, taking a moment to catch his breath after the failed Dust theft.

"How very disappointed, Roman." Roman turned, seeing his 'employer' standing in the entrance.

"Whoa! Hehe… I wasn't expecting to see you guys so soon…." Spoke the thief, trying to ease the tension a bit.

"We were expecting…. _more_ from you." The woman, Cinder, continued.

"Hey! _You_ were the one who suggested working with those stupid mutts from the White Fang." Roman argued. The dark haired woman just chuckled darkly.

"And you will continue to do so." She answered, a ball of fire forming in her hand, illuminating the faces of her two associates. One was a gray-haired man, the other a mint-haired woman. Cinder's eyes held an ominous glow as her gaze focused on the 'Master' thief. "We have _big_ plans for you, Roman. All we ask is… a little cooperation."

* * *

 _No Omake again, but next chapter WILL have one._

 _Thoughts on Vol. 3 of RWBY (Spoilers Abound)_

 _The new teams: Not bad. Pretty decent all around._

 _Qrow: epic sword/scythe/shotgun for the win. I'm quite okay with how his character's turned out._

 _Latter half of RWBY: Gray Haddock was not kidding when he said the show was going to take a darker turn. Three relatively important characters dead and one maimed in the span of four episodes. Fucking brutal._

 _Maidens: Interesting idea, hope they go more into it as the series progresses._

 _Salem: Seriously wondering whether it's going to become a trend that any character that Jen Taylor voices is or will become evil. Beyond that, it's interesting to see the one that, from what we know anyway, is pulling the strings with Cinder and her group._

 _New Grimm: 'Is it a dragon or Wyvern?' Personally I don't care. What I do care about is that the thing can MAKE MORE GRIMM. That's pretty heavy, considering there's still a plethora of things we don't know about the Grimm. Griffon looks pretty decent, though I'm not entirely sold on the one that tanked several rounds from Coco's min-gun. Beyond that, it's the first Grimm with a kill on screen, so props there._

 _Silver Eyes Revelation: Different. Despite the Deus ex Machina of the power, it's an interesting idea._

 _As always, feel free to leave a review and suggest omake ideas._


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